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GOD 



IN NATURE 



AND 



REVELATION. 



BY REV. J. M. WOODMAN, M. D. 

Teacher of Natural, Mental and Moral 

Philosophy, of Natural and revealed 

Religion. 




The greatest study of man is God. 



JOHN G. HODGE & CO., 

No. 59, John Street, New York; 

Nos. 27, 29, & 31 , Sansome st.,S. F., and 

Corner of First and Broadway, 

CHICO. CAL. 

187;'). 






Entered according to Act of Congress in the year A. D. 1875, by 

J. M. WOODMAN, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. 



Butte Record Press : "Geo. H. Ctosettf., 
Chico. 



CONTENTS. 



THE BEING AND EXISTENCE OF 

GOD Lesson I. 

THE BEING AND EXISTENCE OF 

GOD Lesson II. 

THE BEING AND EXISTENCE OF 

GOD Lesson III. 

THE INADEQUACY OF NATURE AS OUR 
ONLY TEACHER Lesson IY. 

DECEPTIYE NATURE OF OUR FIRST 
SIGHT Lesson Y. 

THE SICK NEED A PHYSICIAN. Lesson VI. 

THE INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIP- 
TURES. ... Lesson VII. 

THE INSPIRATION OF 'THE SCRIP- 
TURES . Lesson VIII. 

EVIDENCE OF INSPIRATION. Lesson IX. 

EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. . Lesson X. 

EVIDENCE FROM PRO HECY Lesson XL 

EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY . Lesson XII. 

THE PROPHETIC CHARACTER OF 
CHRIST Lesson XIII. 

THE SEALING OF PROPHECY. Lesson XIV. 
GOD AS SUGGESTED IN GEOL- 
OGY Lesson XV. 



IV CONTENTS. 

GOD AS SUGGESTED IN GEOL- 
OGY Lesson XVI. 

GOD AS SHOWN IN CHEMICAL 
AFFINITY Lesson XVII. 

GOD AS SHOWN IN PHYSIOL- 
OGY Lesson XVIII. 

GOD AS SHOWN IN PHYSIOL- 
OGY Lesson XIX. 

GOD AS SHOWN IN BOTANY .... Lesson XX. 
GOD AS DECLARED BY THE HEAV- 
ENS Lesson XXI. 

GOD AS DECLARED BY THE HEAV- 
ENS Lesson XXII. 

THE STUDY OF GOD AS REVEAL- 
ED Lesson XXIII. 

THE STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN 
NAME Lesson XXIV. 

THE STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN 
NAME Lesson XXV. 

THE STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN 
RELATION Lesson XXVI. 

THE STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN 
RELATION Lesson XXVII. 

THE STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN 
RELATION Lesson XXVIII. 

THE STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN 
PERSONALITIES Lesson XXIX. 



CONTENTS. V 

THE STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN 
PERSONALITIES lesson XXX. 

THE STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN 
PERSONALITIES Lesson XXXI. 

THE STUDY OF GOD AS EEYEALED IN 
GOVERNMENT . Lesson XXXII. 

THE STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN 
GOVERNMENT Lesson XXXIII. 

THE STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN 
GOVERNMENT Lesson XXXIV. 

THE STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED 
THROUGH GRACE Lesson XXXV. 

MONOTHEISTIC WORSHIP . Lesson XXXVI. 

IDOLATRY FORBIDDEN. Lessen XXXVII 

PROFANITY AS A CRIME. Lesson XXXVIII 

SABBATH OBSERVANCE AND PROSPER- 
ITY Lesson XXXIX. 

FILIAL RESPECT Lesson XL. 

THE SACREDNESS OF HUMAN 
LIFE Lesson XLI. 

THE LAW OF CHASTITY Lesson XLII. 

THEFT AND ITS RESULTS Lesson XLIII. 

INTEGRITY AS A VIRTUE ... Lesson XLIV. 

INORDINATE DESIRE Lesson XLV. 

THE MANHOOD OF JESUS. . Lesson XLVI. 

PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST. Lesson XLVII. 



VI CONTENTS. 

THE DIVINE CHARACTER OF 
CHRIST Lesson XLYIIL 

THE DIVINE CHARACTER OF 
CHRIST Lesson XLIX. 

ORIGIN OF MATTER Lesson L. 

THE ABSURDITY OF THE PLUTONIC 
THEORY Lesson LI. 

ORIGIN OF VOLCANOES Lesson LII. 

ORIGIN OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL 
LIFE Lesson LIII. 

THE LAW OF PROGRESS Lesson LIV. 

REVELATION ON CREATION. . Lesson LV. 
THE SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT OF THE 
CREATION Lesson LVL 

THE SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT OF THE 
CREATION Lesson LVJL 

THE SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT OF THE 
CREATION Lesson LVIII. 

REVELATION AND THE CARBONIFEROUS 
PERIOD Lesson LIX. 

REVELATION AND THE CARBONIFEROUS 
PERIOD • Lesson LX. 

REVELATION AND THE ANIMAL KING- 
DOM ...... \ . . Lesson LXI. 

REVELATION AND THE ANIMAL KING- 
DOM Lesson LXIL 

THE SIXTH PERIOD Lesson LXIIL 



CONTENTS. Vll 

ANTEDILUVIAN OUTLOOK Lesson LXIV. 
ANTEDILUVIAN SEASONS. . . Lesson LXV. 
THE DELUGE EXPLAINED . Lesson LXVI. 
THE CHANGE WROUGHT . Lesson LXVII. 

THE -EXTENT OF THE EARTH 
VIEWED UNDER DIFFERENT 
PERIODS Lesson LXVIII. 

THE TERM ALL FLESH" AS APPLIED 
TO THOSE DESTROYED BY THE 
FLOOD Lesson LXIX. 

THE DESCENDANTS OF CAIN Lesson LXX. 

THE HISTORY OF A DROP OF 
WATER. Lesson LXXL 

THE HISTORY OF A DROP OF 
WATER ... lies on LXXII. 

THE HISTORY OF A DROP OF 
WATER Lesson LXXIII. 

THE HISTORY OF A DROP OF 
WATER Lesson LXXIV. 

MANS ORIGINAL STATE. . . Lesson LXXV. 

MAN IN GOD'S IMAGE Lesson LXXVL 

TRIAL AND ITS BENEFITS . Lesson LXXVII. 

SIN & ITS CONSEQUENCES Lesson LXXVII. 

THE RELATION OF SACRIFICE TO 
SIN Lesson LXXIX. 






Viii CONTENTS. 


" 


THE RELATION OF SACRIFICES TO 


BLESSINGS 


. . . Lesson LXXX. 


THE UTILITY OF PEAYEE. Lesson LXXXI. 


OUR FATHEE 


. Lesson LXXXII. 

Lesson LXXXIII. 

DUE HIS 


GOD'S ABODE 


THE REVERENCE 


NAME 


Lesson LXXXIY. 


CHRIST'S KINGDOM 


Lesson LXXXY. 


GOD'S WILL 


. Lesson LXXXYL 


OUE DAILY BEE AD 


Lesson LXXXYIL 



LAW OF FORGIVENESS . Lesson LXXXYIII. 

SUBMISSION TO GOD Lesson LXXXIX. 

THE DOXO LOGICAL EEMIN- 

DEE Lesson XC, 

SATAN AS A DISTINCT BEING . . Lesson XCI. 

MAN'S DEPENDENCE ON THE HOLY 
GHOST Lesson XCIL 

THE CHUECH AT WORK Lesson XCIIL 

THE CHURCH ASLEEP Lesson XCIV. 

DISCIPLINE OF THE CHURCH.Lesson XCV. 
RELIGIOUS ORDINANCES. . Lesson XCVI. 
INFANT SALVATION . Lesson XCVII. 

RELATION OF PROBATION TO ETER- 
NITY Lesson XCVIII. 

RELATION OF PROBATION TO ETER- 
NITY . Lesson XCIX. 

TOTAL ABSTINENCE Lesson C. 



PREFACE. 



These lessons are presented to the public as a 
Scriptural view of the truths with which they 
deal. They are written neither for or against 
an}* denomination or creed. Some of the views 
taken may be unique. Those founded upon hy- 
potheses must stand upon their own merits, ac- 
cording to the phenomena explained. A few 
draw largely upon the imagination. The most 
have a "Thus saith the Lord." The whole are 
believed to be in accordance with a just exposi- 
tion of the Bible. 

They are presented to meet an existing want, 
especially in California, viz : a ready opportunity 
of studying the Scriptures in connection with the 
scientific discoveries of the age. Many neigh- 
borhoods are so situated as to be deprived of all 
public means of grace. A few of these books, 
to form a class in a family, or among neighbors, 
would enable them to spend, profitably at least, 
a portion of the Sabbath. They are well calcu- 
lated to interest even the most careless, while 
the true student of theology will find them above 
price. They are especially designed for adults ; 
but all who can read the Scriptures may profit by 
them. 

Before you cast the Bible away, or detract 
from its statements, read and faithfully study 
these lessons. They are just what every Sab- 



X PREFACE. 

bath School needs for the adult class, to be led, 
if possible, by the pastor. 

Time should be taken to consider carefully the 
subject matter, and all the references should be 
looked up and read. The text of the lessons is 
divided and numbered, for convenience in refer- 
ence. The questions are numbered according 
to the divisions. The asterisk (*) signifies that 
the answer to the question must be found out- 
side the text. 

They are also well adapted to meet an existing 
want in the academic and collegiate course of 
study, viz : a condensed view of the philosophy 
of natural and revealed religion, combined and 
compared. 

These lessons, by the blessing of God, have 
already inaugurated a new era in the study of 
the Bible, in connection with science. No other 
book, ever presented to the public, has shown so 
elaborately and completely the harmony between 
the voice of God in nature and revelation. The 
entire work is written in a most clear, vivid, and 
pleasing style, at once captivating, interesting 
and easily understood. It is a most ready key 'to 
the more obscure portions of the Bible. It 
should be made the constant companion of every 
thoughtful young person. 

The subjects are so varied, and presented in 
such peculiar style, that it would not be strange if 
most who read them should dissent from some of 



BOTANIC 



GEOLOGY 



zQOLoe/e 




SCALE OF CF.EATTON. 



96 



PREFACE. XI 

the positions taken. But the points for a prob- 
able disagreement are few, and will constantly 
grow less as the student proceeds. Even then, 
if not fully removed, the greater portion of the 
lessons will be held beyond value. 

All of which are respectfully commended to 
the church of the Lord Jesus by the 

PUBLISHERS. 



NOTICE 

This book is an octavo of five hundred pages, 
printed on tinted paper, and illustrated by en- 
gravings, some of which are colored, showing 
the carboniferous period. 

Sold only by agents. Four dollars in curren- 
cy, sent by mail or express, to Kev. J. M. Wood- 
man, Chico, California, will secure a copy, post 
paid, and sent anywhere within the United 
States. 

AUTHOE. 



THE BEING AND EXISTENCE OF GOD. 



LESSON I. 



" He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that 
he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."— Heb. 
11: 6. 



INTRODUCTION. 

1. Atheism is a negative opinion ; simply a 
disbelief in the existence of God. 
'2. Dualism is the belief in two gods. 

3. Polytheism is the belief in many gods. 

4. Deism accepts the idea of a God, but rejects 
the doctrine of any special revelation. 

5. Christianity accepts the revelation of God 
in nature, not as exhaustive, but preparatory to 
one more extended, whenever needed. Also, 
that God has met the wants of sinful man by a 
special revelation of himself. 

6. Atheism is the cold unwelcome conclusion 
to which all forms of skepticism upon the Bible 
seem drifting. 

7. It behooves us, therefore, to fortify the 
mind in reference to Theism. 



14 THE ARGUMENT FROM CAUSE AND EFFECT. 

8. The history of our physical world is 
evidently a series of events. 

9. Each event must have had a cause. 

10. Many things act both as cause and effect, 
but always in different senses. 

11. However extended, every series must have 
had a first. 

12. It is manifestly certain that the first in a 
series of events could not have caused itself. 

13. The first cause must itself be uncaused. 

14. That cause when applied to creation's 
forces, must be God. 

15. The laws of sequence, therefore, show the 
being and existence of God, as Maker and 
Proprietor of the universe, but not as a Saviour. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is Atheism ? 
What does it deny ? 

Can it furnish a substitute for that which it 
would destroy ?* 

On the assumption that man has a religious 
nature, what does this show as to the truth of 
Atheism?* 

2. What is Dualism ? 

What is the cardinal doctrine of all true wor- 
ship?* Dent. 6:4. 

3. What is Polytheism ? 

In what forms of worship do we find this belief 
embodied ? * 



THE BEING AND EXISTENCE OF GOD. 



15 



4. What does Deism accept ? 
What does it reject? 

Where would Deists be likely to look for their 
knowledge of God ? * Rom. 1 : 20. 

5. What does Christianity accept ? 
How does it accept this revelation ? 

What is meant by a revelation more extended ?* 
What is the great want of sinful man ?* Rom. 
7: 24. 

6. To what are all forms of skepticism upon 
the Bible drifting ? 

7. Upon what positive theory should the mind 
be fortified '? 

What is Theism ?* 

8. What is the history of this world '? 
9.> From what must each event result ? 

10. What double relation do some things hold 
in this respect ? 

11. Can there be an eternal series?* 

12. What is certain of all first events ? 

13. What of first causes? 

14. In all the producing events of nature, who 
must have been the first cause ? 

15. What are the teachings of the laws of 
sequence ? 

What is sequence ?* 

Do the laws of sequence reveal a Saviour ? 
Is there anything in the foregoing lesson that 
vou do not understand ?* 



THE BEING AND EXISTENCE OF GOD. 



LESSON II. 



SL" For the invisible things of him from the creation of the 
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that 
are made, even his eternal power and Godhead."— Rom. 1 : 20. 



THE ARGUMENT FROM DESIGN. 

1. On opening a gravel bed, you would 
observe curious pebble stones, promiscuously 
thrown together, of different sizes, shapes, colors 
and structures. 

2. You would be at an utter loss to trace 
marks of design in either of the above particu- 
lars. 

3. We are not, however, at liberty to deny 
design in the aggregate, where even many partic- 
ulars seem without order. We only need refer 
to the gold bearing quartz lodes, the placer 
mines, or the rich deltas of rivers, to make this 
apparent. 

4. Of this we are all satisfied, that these 
deposits were made by some active yet unintelli- 



THE BEING AND EXISTENCE OF GOD. 17 

gent agent, but whether one or twenty thousand 
years since, appearance saith not. 

5. But if instead of a stone, we had unearth- 
ed a sewing machine, we should no longer be at a 
loss in reading evidences of design, in form, size, 
color and structure. 

6. All designs must have had a designer. 

7. Nor would the conclusion be in the least 
weakened, if this had been the first machine ever 
seen. 

8. Nor the fact that it sometimes went wrong. 

9. Or that no one could divine the use of 
some of its parts. 

10. Neither would the fact that a part of its 
wheels were duplicated. 

11. Supposing that it could be made to 
appear that the machine did not come directly 
from the hand of the contriver, but resulted 
from elaborate machinery placed within the 
sewing machine, ,<-;o that in its ordinary work it 
could produce another similar to itself, the argu- 
ment still holds good, the first sewing machine 
in the series, however extended, must have had 
an intelligent creator, whose designs are still 
more apparent in the added machinery for re- 
production. The maker of the first machine in 
the supposed case would be essentially the maker 
of all the series. 

12. The world is divided into organic and 
inorganic matter. 



1 8 THE BEING AND EXISTENCE OF GOD . 

Organic includes animal and vegetable life. 

Inorganic includes earth, air and water. 

Every kingdom in nature is full of marks of 
design. 

In our next we will compare these evidences 
with those of art. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. Have you ever observed the pebble stones of 
a gravel deposit ? * 

Are they apparently arranged with reference 
to any order ? * 

How many and what are the particulars engag- 
ing our attention ? 

2. If design regulates these particulars, are we 
able to trace it? 

3. Is the gold diffused through the quartz 
according to any known order ? 

Do the deposits of deltas observe any known 
order ? 

May we not trace design in the existence both 
of gold bearing quartz and deltas?"* 

May not God design the wildest disorder, re- 
sulting from the action of sub-agents, to conduce 
to some grand system of order of his own? 

4. To what conclusion do all arrive who witness 
these gravel deposits ? 

Have we any data by which to judge of the age 
of the crust of the earth ? 



THE BEING AND EXISTENCE OF GOD. 19 

5 If, instead of a stone, a sewing machine had 
been unearthed, what would be the conclusion 
in reference to its shape, size, color and struct- 
ure ? 

6. What does design show ? 

7. Would the conclusion be weakened if no one 
had before seen a sewing machine ? 

8. Would its going wrong destroy this evidence? 

9. If some of its parts were unknown, would 
the evidence of design be altered ? 

10. Would the duplicating of certain organs or 
parts destroy this evidence ? 

11. What if this sewing machine proved to be 
the result of machinery, curiously arranged with- 
in another, could the first in the series be thus 
formed ? 

Who must have made the first ? 

Can anything unintelligent in itself give evi- 
dence of intelligent action?* Jer. 10. 5. 

Does not electricity select the best conductor ? 

What effect would the knowledge of such com- 
plicated arrangement within the sewing machine 
have upon the evidence of design ? 

In such case, who would be the maker of the 
entire series ? 
V2. How do we divide matter ? 

What is organic ? 

What is inorganic V 

Can you readily point to marks of design in 
nature ?* 



THE BEING AND EXISTENCE OF GOD. 



LESSON III. 



Come and see the works of God.'' — Pn. &y. 



THE APPLICATION OF THE ARGUMENT. 

1. The contrivances of nature far exceed those 
of art. Here we shall find all the leading me- 
chanical principles more elaborately adjusted 
than was ever shown in art. 

2. There is a close resemblance between nature 
and art, in the purpose and structure of many 
kinds of instruments. True art ever learns of 
nature. The telescope and the human eye are 
often compared. 

3. The laws for the transmission and refraction 
of rays of light were made before either. 

4. The makers of both instruments must have 
had similar objects in view, viz: vision and its 
aid. 

5. Each had similar difficulties to encounter. 

6. Both show contrivance in accordance with 
the laws of light. 

7. The aqueous and vitreous humors, together 
with the crystalline lens, show an arrangement 



THE BEING AND EXISTENCE OF GOD. 21 

of lenses to throw an object into focus upon the 
retina of the eye. 

8. The tendency of passing light through lenses 
is to separate the rays. In such case the edges 
of the object are tinged with prismatic colors. 

9. This, for a long time, troubled telescope 
makers. Observing the different densities of the 
lenses of the eye, the first step toward obviating 
the difficulty was reached, by making the lenses 
of different densities. But. the object was not 
fully attained until they gave the instrument the 
solid and liquid lenses, corresponding to the 
eye. 

10. The maker of the eye had to adapt the in- 
strument to light passing through different den- 
sities, as water and air. 

11. Also, to provide in the same eye for long 
and short sight. This adjustment is very marked, 
in birds of prey, who can see an insect furlongs 
or as many inches distant. 

12. The maker of the eye had also to provide 
for excess or want of light. How wonderfully 
does the iris, with its hair-like muscles, orbicu- 
lar and radiated, adjust the window of the inner 
eye to the occasion. 

' ' He that formed the eye, shall he not see ?" 

13. Other organs of the human body equally 
show design, as, for instance, the ear, with its 
harp of three thousand strings. But the plan of 
these lessons allow only a brief outline. 



22 THE BEING AND EXISTENCE OF GOD. 

14. All the knowledge derived from these things 
pertains to natural religion. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. How do evidences of contrivance in nature 
and art compare with each other, as to number ? 

How as to skill ? 

"What are the six mechanical powers known ? 
(See Natural Philosophy.) 

Can you point to the application of any of 
these principles in human anatomy?* 

What has been the testimony of those who 
have compared nature and art ? 

2. What instrument, in its purpose and struct- 
ure, closely resembles the human eye ? 

Where does the true mechanic get his best 
lessons ? 

3. What do you understand by the transmission 
of light?* 

What by refraction ? 

In point of time, whichTwas first made, these 
laws, or the eye ?* 

4. What grand design is manifest in the struc- 
ture and adjustment of the eye ?* 

What design in the telescope.?* 

5. How do the difficulties in the way of 
producing vision compare with those in making 
the telescope ? 

6. What do both instruments show? 



THE BEING AND EXISTENCE OF GOD. 23 

7. What purpose do the aqueous and vitreous 
humors, with the crystalline lens, show ? 

8. What difficulty in colors in condensing 
rays of light? 

9. Was this at once obviated by the telescope 
maker ? 

What fact in the eye enabled him to begin its 
solution ? 

Wlien did he perfect the instrument ? 

10. What additional difficulty did the maker of 
the eye encounter? 

Which refracts light most, air or water ?* 

What compensation in the eye of the fish ? * 

11. What additional principle enters into the 
construction of the eye ? 

Where do we find it largely developed ? 

W T ould the eye with one adjustment see things 
near and distant at the same time ? 

12. What other principle entered into the eye ? 
How is excess and want of light compensated ? 
Can you read design in the structure of the 

eye ? 

Who must have been its maker ?* 

WTiat do these facts suggest as to God's 
omniscience? Ps. 94: 9 

13 Might not these comparisons be indefinitely 
extended ? 

14. To what does all our knowledge of nature 
pertain? 



THE INADEQUACY OF NATUEE AS OUE 
ONLY TEACHEE. 



LESSON IV. 



" But the natural man receiveth not the things of the 
Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him ; neither can 
he know them, because thev are spiritually discerned." — 1 
Cor. 2: 14. 



1. By a' figure of metonymy we^talk of nature's 
speaking, or teaching, while we really mean what 
God has indicated by the laws of nature. 

2. Nature is adapted to primeval man. 

3. Hence her teachings are complete only to 
him. 

4. Two courses of reasoning suggest this. 
Knowing what we do of God, we would reason, 
a priori, that he would adapt his works to law 
keeping, and not to law breaking. The facts 
of nature are suggestive of this design. 

5. The first revelations of God to Adam made 
no provision for forgiveness after the violation 
of law. "In the day that thou eatest thereof 
thou shalt surely die." 

6. The penalty inhering to moral transgression 
is moral death. "The soul that sinneth it shall 
die." 

7. Man is a transgressor of physical, intellect- 
ual and moral law, corresponding to his three- 
fold nature. 

8. He must therefore read nature in an abnor- 



THE INADEQUACY OF NATURE. 25 

mal state. Although the most natural book, jet 
if he relies upon it to do more than it was de- 
signed, he will make a sad failure of his i eligious 
nature. "Therefore by the deeds of the law 
there shall no flesh be justified." 

' ' Who can bring a clean thing out of an 
unclean ?" 

•''If a man die shall he live again ?" 

9. For partial changes in nature, her own laws 
may offer the healing balm. Men, animals and 
vegetables may be acclimated. Wounds not 
mortal may be healed. 

10. But, for the complete violation of her laws, 
nature -suggests no remedy. 

11., The least remedy that is adequate for 
moral death, is a moral resurrection. 

12. For aught nature teaches, perpetuity is 
written on death of every kind. If there is a 
resurrection, moral or organic, it must come 
directly from God. 

13. Since man's wants exceed those provided 
for in nature, something in advance of nature 
must be given, or his wants remain. 

14. The Scriptures claim to be this something, 
not " contrary," as Hume would affirm, but 
beyond, as a sequel to what God has written 
before. 

15. The Scriptures do not propose to abrogate 
the necessity of nature's teachings. 

"I had not known sin but by the law." 



26 THE INADEQUACY OF 'MATURE 

1 ' Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to 
bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by 
faith. ? ' 

"Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one 
tittle shall in no wise pass from the the law till 
all be fulfilled." 

16. But they do affirm that the entire embodi- 
ment of the law, whether specially or naturally 
revealed, is inadequte to save a lost sinner. 
"By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be 
justified." 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What do you understand by nature ?* 
What by inadequacy ? * 

What by nature's speaking? 

What is a figure of metonymy?* 

What leading attributes of God are seen in 
nature ?* 

What suggests infinite goodness ?* 

Is this the goodness as shown in redemption 
or in adaptation ? * 

2. To what condition of the race is nature 
adapted as our only teacher ? 

3. Are the teachings complete to sinful beings? 

4. What courses of reasoning, in nature, show 
this? 

What is reasoning a priori ? * 
W^ould not provisions for redemption in nature 
have lessened expectation for law-keeping ?* 



AS OUR ONLY TEACHER. 27 



What do facts in nature show ? 

5. What was the nature of God's first revelation 
to Adam ? 

In sin, what only might be expected ? Gen. 
2:17. 

What quotation is given from Ezek. 18 : 14 '? 

6. What is the moral penalty of sin ? 
When does it take place ?* Gen. 2: 17. 

7. Mention the distinct natures of man ?* 
Are all involved in transgression ? 

8. Does nature speak to man in accordance 
with his present needs, or those under another 
state ?* 

Is man in a healthy condition to read nature ? 

What is man's most natural instructor ? 

If man has wants, for which nature has not 
provided, is it unreasonable that God should 
exceed nature, by providing other means of 
knowledge ?* 

What quotation is made? Eom. 3: 20. 

Bepeat the quotation from Job, 14:4; also, 
14:14. 

9. For what kind of law-violations has nature 
provided ? 

Are these a parallel to the wounds caused by 
sin?* 

10. Has she offered a remedy for the complete 
subversion of her own laws ? 

11. What is the adequate remedy for sin ? 



28 THE INADEQUACY OF NATUBE. 

12. What appears to be nature's voice as to 
death ? 

Does she anywhere even suggest the resurrec- 
tion ?* 

Does not the idea of perpetuity of death arise 
from the absence of nature's teachings upon the 
resurrection ?* 

Who alone can resurrect to life ? 

13. Has man more or less wants than he would 
have had in a sinless state ? 

What is the great need which sin has brought 
upon the soul? Acts, 13: 38, 39. 

Is the goodness of God, as shown m nature, 
sufficient for all the purposes of grace ?* 

14. What do the scriptures claim ? 

Is a special revelation of God necessarily 
opposed to nature ? 

What was Hume's position ? 

If the scriptures are true, how do they compare 
with nature ? 

15. Do we yet need nature's teaching? 

What does Paul say? Kom. 7 : 7. Bead Gal. 
3:24. 
W x hat does our Saviour say ? Matt. 5 : 18. t 

16. What do they claim for the law? 

Did not Paul recognize the existence of God's 
law in nature, even where the Bible was unknown? 
Kom. 2:13,15. 

Would the knowledge of God, as thus shown, 
lead to repentance?* 



DECEPTIVE NATURE OF OUR FIRST 
SIGHT. 



LESSON V. 



"Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous 
judgment."— John 7: 24. 



1. Our senses are given, not to act by instinct, 
but to be trained under the guidance of reason. 
Our reason is given not to be led by impressions, 
but to search out carefully true causes and 
relations. 

2. Sight beholds the sun, moon and stars, 
rising in the east and passing westward. Reason 
places this motion in our planet, with its direc- 
tion eastward, while the heavenly bodies are 
relatively fixed. 

3. Sight would say that our moon was nearly 
the size of our sun, and immensely larger than 
any star. Reason reverses these conclusions, 
giving to some of those twinkling orbs a size 
many times larger than our sun, with all its 
attendant planets. 



30 DECEPTIVE NATURE OF OUR FIRST SIGHT. 

4. Sight brings the distant ship of the ocean, 
or an object upon the prairie, within a few rods 
of the beholder. Reason persists to increase 
the distance until sight fairly remonstrates. 

5. Vision, from within a vehicle in rapid motion^ 
beholds the objects of the land with a reverse 
motion. Reason brings that motion to the ve- 
hicle. Thus we might illustrate indefinitely, 

sight is so often reversed by reason. 

6. Distance is greatly increased as you look 
downward from an eminence. Sight deceives 
you, as you attempt to judge of the .weight of 
objects of unequal densities. We learn to 
adjust this wonderful instrument for vision to 
long or short sight by practice, guided by 
reason. 

7. Sound is multiplied or reversed indirection, 
according to the position of the hearer. The 
very seat of bodily sensation is, to the casual 
observer, wrongly located. Hence the deceptive 
feelings of those who have lost a limb. Even 
the material facts of the universe are not what 
they seem. 

8. The intellect is troubled with a world of 
paradoxical truths and principles. We do not 
treat all problems by the law of appearance. We 
have learned not to submit them even to unaided 
reason alone, but we gather around us the 
experience and counsel of others. 



DECEPTIVE NATURE OF OUR FIRST SIGHT. 31 

9. Thus we attempt -every where else to correct 
the false appearance of the outward world. It 
is only when man comes to the profound truths 
of his religious nature, that he shows himself 
incapacitated to grasp the principles of his own 
being. 

10. Here, where he knows the least, and where 
his intuitions are not to he trusted, he declares 
that things shall be taken for what they seem. 
Feelings and impulses, that were given man in a 
sinless state, as adapted to another means of 
salvation, he declares shall be his only guide 
now, however sinful his life. 

11. He is tempted to bring the being and 
existence of God to the test of his physical 
senses. He magnifies his last and his appetite 
to the imperative demands of his nature. 

1*2. Nor does he escape self deception when 
attempting to look into the remedial system. 
When kindly exhorted to resentence, he too 
often sees it in the light of self torture to gratify 
a demand that might have been omitted. 

13. When exhorted to pray he meditates upon 
the probability of moving God to be willing to 
bless, rather than that of moving his own heart 
to accept what God is so anxious to bestow. 

14. If taught that the occasion for the death of 
Christ was made by man's sins, and that he died 
for as, and that he even now vicariously sympa- 
thizes and enters into relation -\\ ith sinners, as 



32 DECEPTIVE NATURE OF OUR FIRST SIGHT. 

though partaking of their condition, he will 
persist to understand that; the account of his 
sins is all settled. 

15. He immediately places his sins, or the 
penalty, or a governmental substituted penalty, 
directly upon Christ. He hears you exhorting 
him to regard Christ as having commercially 
paid the debt due to divine justice. When 
Christ is presented as an advocate, he regards 
his plea as directed to the Father, to render him 
placable. He hears not the tender voice of 
Jehovah pleading through Jesus, to the human 
soul, "be reconciled to God," or, "turn ye, turn 
ye, for why will ye die ?" 

16. The philosophy of the Christian Eeligion 
must be studied to be understood. First ap- 
pearances will not lead you to truth. "Study to 
show thyself approved unto God, a workman' 
that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing 
the word of truth." 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is not one of the objects of the five 
senses ? 

What is ? 

Will it do to follow our impressions ? 

What should we do? • 

What did Christ exhort ? John 5 : 39. 

2. How do the planets appear ? 
Where is this motion ? 



DECEPTIVE NATURE OP OUR FIRST SIGHT. 33 

Which way? 

Kelative to the daily motion of the earth, what 
are the heavenly bodies ? 

Do we not, in common language, still speak of 
them as moving ?* 
3. How does the moon appear ? 

What are the facts? 
.4. What of these things, when seen upon a 
level surface ? 

How do we finally judge ? 

5. How do things appear from a moving 
vehicle ? 

What do we know in these things? 
How, then, does sight stand to reason? 

6. ' How does distance appear from an emi- 
nence ? 

How does the eye serve you, in judging 
weights ? 

How do we look at distant, aid near things? 

7. What is said of sound ? 
What of sensation ? 
What of material things? 

.8. What opposite truths meet the intellect? 
How do we treat problems ? 
Will unaided reason always solve them? 
What do we seek ? 

9. What do we try to do with the false appear- 
ances of the outer world ? 

Where does man fail ? 

10. What does he seem to declare here? 

3 



34 DECEPTIVE NATURE OF OUR FIRST SIGHT. 

What uses does he make of his impulses, and 
his feelings ? 

1 1 . What farther does he attempt to do ? 
What undue prominence does he give lust and 

passion ? 

12. Does he approach the remedial system with 
proper candor? 

How does he understand repentance ? 
How ought he?* Cor. 7: 10. 

13. What does he understand prayer to be? 
What influence ought he to seek? 

14. What made it necessary for Christ to die ? 
How does he now feel toward sinners? 

How are these feelings perverted ? 

15. How do some account for the removal of 
sin ? 

How does the gospel sound to such ? 

How does he regard Christ, as an advocate ? 

What does he not hear ? 

16. What is said of Christian philosophy? 
Can we always safely follow first appearances? 
What should we do ? 

What is the grand procuring cause of man's 
salvation ? John 3 : 16 . 



THE SICK NEED A PHYSICIAN. 



LESSON VI. 



" Know ye no: your own solves ?" — 2 Cor. 13: 5. 
"They that ba whole n3ed not a physician, but they that 
are sick."— Matt. 9: 12. 



1. Whatever advantages may accrue to the 
Christian fro, n in be mil evidence, the mass of 
the world miisfc be dependent, for their belief, 
upon the evidence that comes from without, 
appealing to their reason. 

2. All persons seem to have certain spontaneous 
religious feelings, which may be called intui- 
tions. They act from an inward force, not 
always under the control of the will. They 
demonstrate the fact that man was made to be a 
religious being. 

3. They side with the Christian religion, just 
so far as that re-enacts the law of God. It is 
not their nature to deal with a broken law, and 
out of it to emerge into life. They are adapted to 



36 THE SICK NEED A PHYSICIAN. 

the majestic march of the well man, but not to 
the sickly tread of the infirm. 

4. Man was made subject to a law covenant. 
His intuitions, therefore, are not adapted to a 
covenant of grace. We find them on the side of 
cause and effect. It is his nature to distrust all 
that exceeds his present knowledge of adequate 
causes. 

5. When therefore he is called upon to believe 
in the resurrection of one who was actually dead, 
or in the preservation of life, beyond what the 
laws of nature reveal, he has no intuitions to 
sanction the belief. 

6 . Hence, if he can occupy no other point of 
observation, than some thoughtless one, stum- 
bled upon in nature, he will practicably be a 
disbeliever. 

7. Man is a creature of habit, and greatly under 
the dominion of public sentiment. It is not 
strange therefore that we find so large a propor- 
tion, brought up under the r. straints of the 
Christian religion, seeming to accept the truths 
of the Bible, who nevertheless disbelieve them, 
as stated. 

8. Kevelation gives a philosophy of religion, 
which, where understood, presents a vantage 
ground, that any truth needed, though super- 
natural, may harmonize with our intuitions. 

9. These naturally impress us with the exist- 
ence of God, but alone, they are not able to 



THE SICK NEED A PHYSICIAN. 37 

guard against degenerating into the belief of a 
false God. Keason should guide them. But 
reason must occupy the revealed vantage ground, 
or be compelled to reject the conclusions, to 
which we arrive in the redemption covenant. 

10. No person is prepared to embrace the sys- 
tem of religion, purporting to be in accordance 
with the one true God, until he understands 
there is one God, and he can have no rival. 
This is a cardinal principle in the philosophy of 
Monotheism, upon which is founded Christian 
worship. 

11. But this is not all, or enough. Monotheism 
alone furnishes no vantage ground, from which 
to survey the soul's provisions in the light of 
necessities. This the gospel professes to have 
given. There was but one way to do it, and that 
was by special revelation. 

12. Man has a class of abnormal wants, that 
nature only enhances. It is not too much to 
believe that God can, and will act as his physician. 
He will open the way for him to look at his ab- 
normal condition, and at the revealed philosophy, 
to meet it. 

13. That man should become indifferent, and 
refuse to recognize his need, or becoming inter- 
ested, should purposely pervert this philosophy, 
is not the fault of the Christian religion. 

14. Though man might be unable, yet God can 



38 THE SICK NEED A PHYSICIAN. 

make known, how a covenant of pardon can be 
grafted upon a covenant of law. 

15. There are many parts upon which is based 
the reasoning of the religious mind; for want of 
some one point not clearly stated, all the rest 
may suffer. 

16. People approach the Scriptures with wants 
alike in the aggregate, but in particular wants, 
they differ as the trees of the forest. 

17. A book capable of silencing all our cavils, 
meeting all our wants, supplying every missing 
link in our philosophy, or giving one perfectly 
in accordance with reason and conscience, has 
strong claims to inspiration. 

18. Who, but God, could make provision for 
every possible exigency of reasoning that might 
arise in all time. He meets the sophistry of the 
most subtle philosophy, coming up at different 
ages, claiming now this science, now that, never 
adhering long to the same line of contradictions. 

19. In the most eminent sense, the Bible has 
fulfilled this requisition. Its promises have 
never disappointed those who have complied 
with its precepts. 

20. The dictations and unbelief, arising from 
our intuitions alone, are to be suspected as the 
appetite of the sick. We know of God, just what 
he has seen fit to reveal. The vail of the future 
is not fully lifted. We know in part. All we 
know of him as a Saviour, has been specially 



THE SICK NEED A PHYSICIAN. 39 

revealed. If we turn away from this, we turn 
into darkness. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is said of internal evidence ? 
What class of persons have this ? * 

Upon what are the world generally dependent? 

2. What is common to man? 
What shall we call these feelings ? 
From what do they act ? 

Do they always obey the will ? 
WHat do they demonstrate ? 

3. How far do they side with the Christian 
religion ? 

W T hat is not their nature ? 

To what are they adapted ? 

Is the law of pardon contained in law ? * 

Is life from death shown in nature ?* 

4. To what was man fashioned in nature ? 
Does salvation by grace come equally natural ? 
Where are the intuition principles of his 

mind? 

What is natural ? 

May not adequate causes exist, of which the 
mind takes no cognizance ?"* 

5. What are some extraordinary demands of 
the gospel ? 

How do fche intuitions respond ? 

What would have been the effect upon the 



40 THE SICK NEED A PHYSICIAN. 

world, if the claim of revelation had been made, 
unaccompanied by divine power?* 

6. If not helped to new reasons, what will man 
be? 

Would not a candid view of human necessities, 
help him to see what God, professes to have 
done? 

7. What is said of man? 
What is not strange ? 

8. What does revelation profess ? 

From this vantage ground, what results ? 

9. With what do they impress us ? 

From what are they not able to guard us ? 
What sh ould guide us ? 
To what is reason brought ? 
Has not God placed the redeeming plan, within 
the reach of all men ?* Luke 2 : 30, 31. 

10. What previous understanding is essential to 
belief in Christ ? 

Upon what is the Christian system founded? 

11. Is Monotheism enough? 
What does it fail to do ? 
How does the gospel differ ? 

What was the only way to accomplish it ? 

12. What may be said of man ? 

Is it unreasonable that God should act as our 
physician ? 

What must be done for man ? 

Will he grasp it as soon as he sees it ? * 

13. What fact is evident ? 



1 1 



THE SICK NEED A PHYSICIAN. 41 



What seems to be the position of most men? * 

14. How is the ability of God, and man, con- 
trasted ? 

15 . What may be said of the religious mind ? 
What often arises, from slight errors ? 

16. How do people approach the Scriptures ? 
What may be said of particular wants ? 

17. What may be said of the Bible ? 

18. What question is asked? 
What does he meet ? 

19. What is farther said of the Bible ? 
Wbat of its promises ? 

20. How should we look upon unbelieving 
intuitions, in view of the Scriptures ? 

Wliat do we know of God ? 
To what are we indebted for the little we 
know ? 

W 7 hat is the result of turning from it ? 



THE INSPIRATION OF THE SCBIPTUKES. 



LESSON VII, 



"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is 
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for 
instruction in righteousness." — 2 Tim. 3: 16. 



1. By the Scriptures we understand trie thirty- 
nine books of the Old Testament, with the 
twenty-seven of the New. 

2. By inspiration of God, we understand such 
an influence of the Holy Spirit upon the mind and 
heart of man, as to unerringly accomplish what 
was designed. 

3. It seems to have been a rule of the Spirit, 
never to aid man, where unaided reason could do 
the work, without damage to the soul. 

4. During the first ages of the world, there 
were four distinct classes of wants, unprovided 
for in nature, viz: remedial ideas; fit words to 
clothe them; ability to record the unwritten 



INSPIEATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 43 

history of the past; and to speak intelligently of 
the future. 

5. This gave rise to four kinds of inspiration, viz : 
suggestion ; suggestion clothed ; superintendence ; 
and elevation. 

6. Where appropriate words existed to clothe 
the idea when given, only that the idea was 
wanting, suggestion only was needed. We may 
instance Peter's prejudice in behalf of his own 
nation. The words existed by which to express 
religious equality, but the idea was wanting. 

7. A vision on the house top gave the idea, and 
Peter arose and expressed it in his own language. 
Here we have the inspiration of suggestion. 
Most of the epistles, and some portions of the 
Old Testament, are of this class. 

8. But where no words existed by which to 
express the idea, if given, both must be given, 
to make the communication intelligible. This is 
called plenary inspiration. 

9. These two classes are illustrated in the trial 
of Abraham's faith, in the sacrifice of Isaac. 
The idea of giving his son to God, in sacrifice, 
was suggested. Abraham was acquainted with 
human sacrifices, and could, without further 
showing, fill up the details. The offering and 
place only were given. 

10. Prepared to obey, he was arrested with a 
new class of ideas, and words appropriate to 
express them. He saw the day of Christ, beheld 



44 INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 

the resurrection in a figure, recorded a name of 
God, not explained until four hundred years 
after. All that he could say of it was, "in the 
mount of the Lord it shall be seen." 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What do we understand by the Scriptures ? 

Mention the books of the Old Testament in 
their order ? * 

Those of the New in the same way ?* 
'2. Give a definition of inspiration. 

Are all the sayings of the Bible inspired, in 
the same particulars ? * 

3. What seems to have been the rule, for the 
Spirit's intarposition ? Ps. 12:1. 

4. What four classes of wants are enumarated, 
as unprovided for in nature ? 

5. To what did this give rise ? 
Mention the four kinds. 

6. Where would suggestion be sufficient ? 
What instance is given? 

What was Peter's prejudice? * Acts, 10 : 28. 
What is religious equality ? * Acts, 10 : 34. 
Does the idea appear to have dawned upon the 
world before ? * 

7. How was the idea communicated ? 
How did Peter express .it ? 

What class does this come under ? 
Where did Paul get his ideas of the gospel ?* 
Gal. 1:12. 



INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 45 

Was there an equal necessity of communicating 
the language to express them ? * 

8. Where the ideas and words are both wanting, 
what must the Spirit do to be understood ? 

What is this called ? 

9. Mention an instance, where these two kinds 
of inspiration are separately illustrated in one 
transaction ? 

Did God give minute directions for sacrificing 
Isaac ? 

What only were given ? 

10. At the critical moment of slaying Isaac, 
what did God do ? 

From whence came words to express them ? * 
What did Abraham see ? John, 8 : 56. 
What, in particular, did he see in Christ ? 
What name was he enabled to record ? Gen. 



22:14. 



How long afterwards was the name first 
explained ? 

Could Abraham have known its import ?* Ex. 
6:3. 

What did he say of it ? Gen. 22 : 14. 

Do you know what mountain was referred to?* 
Ex. 3:1. 2. 






LESSON VIII. 



" Holy men of God spake as they were moved b^vthe Holy 
Ghost."— 2 Peter, 1: 21. 



1. In reference to the facts of history, G-od 
himself cannot change them. 

2. When Ezra was given the task of com- 
piling the books of the Old Testament, thirty-five 
hundred years of man's history had passed. 
Many books existed, purporting to have been 
written by inspired men. The true must be 
selected from the false. 

3. Thirteen hundred years of Israel's history 
was before him, much of it in the form of civil 
documents. He must- select only that history 
needed to be preserved, and that must be 
all true. For his task ' he must have divine 
superintendence. More than this would seem 
superfluous. 



INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES: 47 

4. Christ promised the inspiration of superin- 
tendence to his disciples, in setting forth his life 
and sayings. 

5. But when it was needful to dramatize the 
future, giving the march of empire under signifi- 
cant emblems, or to express the true order of 
creation's forces, through the untold ages of 
geologic formation, man had to be elevated by 
inspiration to the position. The writings of 
Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, David and Moses, are 
specimens in the Old Testament, and the book of 
Revelation in the New. 

6. Two, three, and sometimes the four classes 
are united in one vision. Paul, in such a vision, 
followed Christ to the third heaven, and heard 
words impossible for a man to utter. 

7. The Bible opens with the four classes com- 
bined. Here is the first effort at written history, 
and yet it is to cover those periods of time, com- 
pared with which twenty-five hundred years 
would be as a minute, to the age of our race. 

8. The geologic periods of time increase with a 
fearful ratio as you go back, as though measur- 
ing the distance to the moon, to the sun, to the 
most distant planet, to the nearest fixed star, and 
to those stars the most distant ; yet Moses went 
past them all, and swung out into the darkness 
of primeval night, before the creation of light; 
while all matter mingled in chaos. Yea : he was 
carried back of th° existence of chaos, to the 



48 INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 

voids of unoccupied space, where lie might 
witness the creation of matter. 

9. God willed, and matter was born as ether. 
God spake, and he saw suns marshaling as 
sentinels along the trackless chaos. 

10. He spake again, and great globes of water, 
containing the elements of future rock, wheeled 
into orbits. 

11. Again God spake, and the rock appeared, 
and the forests for future coal measures stood 
before him. Fish, reptiles, birds, beasts and 
cattle, mark the succcessive steps in creation, to 
the formation of man. 

12. The order of these periods are found to be 
geologically correct. If science had enabled 
him to see this, he would have been likely to 
have claimed it. But the Bible tells us he was 
a prophet, whom the Lord knew face to face. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. Are the facts of history fixed beyond the 
possibility of change?. 

2. Who is supposed to have been the compiler 
of the Old Testament ? 

About what year of the world ? 
Are the thirty-nine books selected, all that 
claimed inspiration ? * 

What was required of the compiler ? 



INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 49 

3. How much of Israel's history was before 
him? 

Was the history itself all inspired?* 
Did man need inspiration to record much of it 
as it passed?* 

In what shape did he find a portion of it ? 
What must he do? 
WTiat must he have to do it well ? 
Was this sufficient? 

4. What did Christ promise his disciples? John 
14:26. 

5. What kind of inspiration did the prophets 
need? Dan. 10:5—10. 

W 7 hat prophets are given as samples? 
Can you mention others?* 

6. Are these classes of inspiration always used 
singly? 

What did Paul see at his conversion?* 1 Cor. 
15:8. 

What did he hear? 2 Cor. 12 : 20. 

What effect, generally, has the inspiration of 
elevation on the body?* Dan. 8 : 17; 10 : 8. 

7. How does the Bible open? 

Is there any authentic history, prior to that 
given by Moses? 

What periods was this designed to cover? 

8. On which of the six days of creation have we 
the shortest geologic periods ? 

W 7 hat analogy of illustration is followed? 



50 INSPIRATION OF T£E SCRIPTURES. 

When fully in the vision, had Moses any 
standing place?* 

Had he one as soon as matter was made?* 

What was the condition of all matter? Gen. 
1:2. 

9. Did he not go still farther back?* Gen. 
1:1. 

What was the first form of matter ? * 

From what does light come? 

10. Of what was our giobe, probably, first com- 
posed? 

Whence came the rocks? 

11. What appeared during the third day? 
What changes can you mention to which they 

have sin< e been subjected?* 

Mention the different kinds of animals in the 
order of their creation. 

12. What does geology show as to these 
periods ? 

Is there any probability that science showed 
this to Moses? 

What does the Bible claim for him? Deut. 
34:10. 



EVIDENCE OF INSPIRATION 



LESSON IX. 

"Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before 
of God. "—Acts. 10: 41. 



1. Evidence is of two kinds : demonstrative and 
moral. The former belongs to mathematics and 
the material sciences. The evidence belonging 
to all kinds of religion is, from the nature of the 
subject, moral. 

2. Moral evidence, though incapable of demon- 
stration, is none the less convincing. The third, 
fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth 
commandments of the decalogue, are as evident 
to all minds, as the corresponding numbers of 
the multiplication table. 

3. The evidence that God has given the world, 
a special revelation of himself, is of two kinds, 
viz : testimony without, and the witness within. 

4. Christ early set apart twelve men, to be his 
special witnesses. When he was about to ascend 



52 EVIDENCE OF INSPIRATION. 

from Mount Olivet, he chose over five hundred. 
They all agree, in witnessing, through life, that 
Jesus Christ died upon a cross, rose again, and 
ascended in their sight, to the clouds above. 

5. If any part of this testimony is claimed to be 
false, then they who claim this, must account for 
the declarations of so many, under circumstances 
calculated to discourage all from the utterance 
of truth, even, unless their eternal salvation 
depended upon it. How much less reasonable 
that so many would adhere to their declarations, 
when known to be false. 

6. This testimony cost many of them their lives. 
Such adherence to a known falsehood would be 
a miracle, next to the resurrection itself. 

7. Had they chosen to deceive, the chance 
about Jerusalem, of not being detected, was 
small. The writings of those cotemporary with 
the Apostles, who held other religious opinions, 
are still extant. Josephus, instead of exposing 
the claims of the gospel, as fraudulent, spoke 
favorably oH its Author. 

8. The candor of Bible writers, in recording 
their own and each others' sins and mistakes, 
give evidence of a moral incapacity to wish to 
deceive. 

9. The two Testaments are claimed as witnesses. 
They contain the evidence of their own inspira- 
tion. They live in the incontestable fulfillment 
of prophecy. With the fate of the kingdoms of 



EVIDENCE OF INSPIRATION. 53 

Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Grecia, Rome and 
Egypt, and of the cities of Sodom, Nineveh, 
Tyre and Jerusalem, with the rise and decline of 
Popery before the world, these witnesses will 
stand upon their feet, and testify for inspiration. 

10. The mere presence of infinite power and 
wisdom, of itself, is not sufficient to establish a 
special revelation. This is manifest in nature. 
But the presence of any one of God's attributes, 
accompanied by the claim of special revelation, 
is sufficient to establish inspiration. 

11. The miracles, resting upon incontestable 
testimony, in connection with the giving of the 
scriptures, prove them inspired. 

12: The fact that the Bible contains that which 
the world most need, that which they have longest 
sought after, and not found elsewhere, viz : the 
remedial system, is proof of its inspiration. 

13. The success, of the gospel, at such a time, 
and by such simple means, supplanting the long 
established philosophies, and the deep-seated 
religious convictions of the masses, throughout 
the then known world, and all within two hundred 
years after Christ's ascension, shows presumptive 
evidence of inspiration. 

14. The safest test of a - sound morality is an 
enlightened conscience ; so the clearest evidence 
of divine showing is the response of the obedient 
spirit. " If any man will do His will, he shall 



54 EVIDENCE OF INSPIBATION. 

know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or 
whether I speak of myself." 

15. The inspiration of superintendence, record- 
ing the morality, or immorality of the Jews, and 
the inspiration of suggestion, or elevation, show- 
ing what man ought to do, and be, are quite two 
different things. From the former we are 
generally warned to flee ; of the latter, to 
partake. 

16. The principles received, the precepts fol- 
lowed, and the Spirit of Christ cherished in the 
heart, man finds peace with God, and the positive 
assurance of the new birth. This, to the Chris- 
tian, is conclusive. The outside evidence is 
henceforth eclipsed, as stars go out at sunrise. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. Under what two divisions are all evidence 
classed? 

To what does demonstrative belong? 
What belongs to all kinds of religion ? 

2. Is moral evidence" less convincing? 

What can you claim for seven, out of the ten 
commandments? 

3. How many kinds of evidence of inspiration 
may we look for? 

What are they ? 



EVIDENCE OF INSPIRATION. 55 

4. Whom did Christ early choose as special 
witnesses? 

Why thus early called?* Acts 1 : 22. 
From what mount did he ascend ? * 
How far is this from Jerusalem ? * 
How many were his chosen witnesses there? 
How long is it known, that some of these 
lived?* 

What was the substance of their testimony? 

5. On the assumption that any part of this 
testimony was false, for what have they to 
account? 

What remark is made? 

6. How did many of them die? 

Would it be possible to find such a large 
number, agreeing in testimony known to be false; 
which daily subjected them to imprisonment and 
death? * 

What do those virtually assert, who claim 
this? 

7. Were the circumstances, about Jerusalem, 
favorable for such deception? 

What great Jewish writer was cotemporary 
with the Apostles ? 

Does he allude to Christ? Ant. Book 18: 
Chap. 3. 

Is his language such as would apply to a known 
deceiver ? 

8. What evidence of candor do Bible writers 
show? 



56 EVIDENCE OF INSPIRATION. 

9. What are the two Testaments called? Kev. 
11:3. 

What internal evidence do they contain ? 

What is a constant reminder of their divine 
origin? 

What kingdoms are especially mentioned ? 

Mention some cities, whose fate was foretold. 

Of the rise and fall of what great power do the 
Scriptures speak ? Bev. 12 : 3 — 16. 

What church once claimed great temporal 
power? * 

What has become of that power ?* 

What books are put in as witnesses ? Eev. 11 : 
10—11. 

10. What is said of those who do God's will? 
Whose wisdom planned the human eye ? * 
What power made it?* 

Are these evidences sufficient to establish a 
special revelation? 

Should Infinite power accompany the pro- 
fession of inspiration, what would be the 
conclusion ? 

11. What evidence have we of Bible miracles? 
Were these miracles performed at the time of 

giving the great leading truths of the Scriptures? 

What is our evidence of this? 

What did the power, shown at the grave of 
Lazarus, prove Jesus to be?* John 11: 41, 42. 

12. What is the origin of pilgrimages, gift- 
offerings to the gods, sacrifices, etc.?* Isaiah, 
59:2. 



EVIDENCE OF INSPIRATION. 57 

What is the remedial covenant?* John 8 : 12. 
How do the Scriptures require jou to accept 
Christ?* ITini. 3:16. 

Where alone do we find redemption? 
What ought this to prove? 

13. What was the early success of the gospel? 
On what means did the church rely? 1 Cor. 

1:21. 

How soon did the gospel triumph ? 

Could we expect such success from unassisted 
men ?* 

14. What is the safest test of a sound morality ? 
What is the clearest evidence of Divine show- 
ing? 

What quotation is made? John 7: 17. 

Can this evidence be as easily shown to others? 

15. What was the inspiration necessary to 
record the history of the Jews ? 

What was necessary to awake the mind to 
principles of Godliness ? 

Is the history of j^the Jews intended for our 
imitation? 

16. What three things are necessary to make 
the promises of inspiration ours? 

What is the intellectual result ? 

For his own purpose, what becomes of outside 
evidence? 

Until he obtains the witness of the Spirit, on 
what must he rely?* 2 Thess. 1 : 10. 



58 EVIDENCE OF INSPIRATION. 

What will be the consequence, if it is not 
received ?* Mark 6: 15. 

What difference does a righteous life make 
with Scriptural evidence?* Isaiah 32: 17. 

How does Scriptural evidence bear acquaint- 
ance?* Prov. 4: 18. 



^sMTTS&y^ 



EVIDENCE FEOM PROPHECY. 



LESSON X. 

" The Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me."— Isa. 48: 16. 
"Ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto 
you."— Zech. 6: 15. 



1. Man was made with powers, with which to 
converse with his God. God spoke, not unto 
his ear, but to the intuitions of his soul. 

2. Since God cannot be engaged to the exclu- 
sion or neglect of one of His creatures, it 
followed, that so long as these intuitions remained 
morally pure, God was man's companion in 
spirit, as well as his guide. 

3. Sin brought guilt, and a consequent disrelish 
to converse with God. The sinful mind removed 
God away, and the faculty fell into a state of 
weakness, and became rare and uncertain with 
the masses. 



60 EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY, 

4. Inspiration is supernatural only so far as it 
makes use of, and infallibly directs a waning 
faculty, or returns a lost gift in man. 

5. The natural gift of prophecy showed itself 
in the singular appropriateness of names, given 
in infancy, descriptive of the great events of 
their coming lives. 

6. It showed itself in good and in bad men ; in 
the old, and the young. God only knows the 
unacted future. Men may closely reason upon 
cause and effect; and deduce coming events with 
great exactness, but this is not prophecy. 

7. Men might have the natural faculty then, or 
they may possess it in a slight degree even now, 
and be sufficiently in connection with the Spirit 
of God, to, intuitively read some things of the 
future ; but this is not the nature of Scripture 
inspiration. 

8. It is claimed by some, who are skeptical 
upon Divine inspiration, that man yet possesses 
a gift which may be inspired by the mind of his 
fellow man. Running back over history, by 
means of this communication, he speaks of the 
past through the present. 

9. The particular faculty alluded to, was first 
called clairvoyance, but now it goes under the, 
more general name of Spiritualism. 

10. This may be capable of producing wonders 



EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 61 

and, indeed, may have been, the identical faculty 
employed by the Spirit in unfolding the great, 
truths of revelation ; but without the Spirit's aid 
it is unreliable. It may, or may not be true. 
It offers no more assurance than the voice of a 
false prophet did, in the earlier ages. 

11. Those prophets, whom God did not see fit 
to engage in His service, but depended upon 
their own faculties for prophecy, were called 
false, because unreliable, yet some of their 
sayings were true. 

12. Those who had humbled themselves 
before God, in subjection to the Spirit, and 
were employed to identify past truths, or reveal 
new ones, or unfold the coming events of the 
future, were claimed by God as true prophets. 

13. The fulfillment of many of these sayings, 
involved miraculous developments, that left them 
either to be, stamped with the truth of God, or 
as a gross imposition; which, the event must 
unfold. The fulfillment of such prophecies 
proves the Scriptures divinely inspired. 

14. This class of prophecies had the natura* 
law of cause and effect to argue against their 
fulfillment. The experience and expectations of 
mankind were against them, yet they were seen 
hundreds of years in advance, and none of them 
have failed. 



62 EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What is said of man's natural powers ? 

Are we to infer that God uttered His will 
in audible sounds? * 

To what did God address himself ? 

What is said of Adam after he had sinned?* 
Gen. 3:8. 

Do not unsanctified and guilty men, even now, 
often hear God's voice in winds, and see him in 
the storm ? * 

2. What is said of Gcd ? 
What followed ? 

Does not impurity darken the mind concern- 
ing God and his nature ? 

3. What did sin bring ? 
What was consequent ? 

What removes God to a great distance ? 

What became of the prophetic fa culty ? 

What prophecy did Cain utter, even while 
being cursed for fratricide ?* Gen. 4: 14. 

What did the Lord say would follow ?* Gen. 
4:15. 

Are not the facts, in our relations with the 
American Indians, in both these particulars, 
true?* 

4. To what extent is inspiration supernatural ? 
Does the employment of any natural faculty 

by God, make the effect less divine ? 

5. Where did this natural gift show itself ? 



EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 63 

Of what were these names descriptive ? Matt. 
1:21— Gen. 27:36. 

6. With whom was it ? 
Who only knows the future ? 
Have not some statesmen presented coming 

facts, with, almost, prophetic exactness ? 
Does this explain prophecy ? 

7. Where sinful men had the gift of foresight, 
yet were not specially employed by God, could 
such be said to be divinely inspired ? 

8. What is claimed by some? 
What does this enable him to do ? 
How high may springs rise ? * 
May not a similar law apply to fountains of 

inspiration?* 

Unless inspiration is of God can it be relied 
on?*Isa.8:20. 

9. What was this natural faculty often called ? 
By what name do we now hear it spoken of ? 

10. What is said of it ? 
With what is it compared ? 

11. What is said of unemployed prophets? 
Was all that a false prophet said, in prophecy, 

necessarily false ? 
Why called false ? 

12. Who were called true ? 
Who has claimed this for them ? Matt. 5 : 17, 

18. 



64 



EVIDENCE EROM PROPHECY. 



13. What is said of many of these sayings ? 
What does their fulfillment prove ? 

14. What natural probability had these ? 
What would the experience and feelings of a 

man, before their fulfillment, say of them ? 

Has any Scripture prophecy failed to meet all 
reasonable expectations founded on it ? * 

Were not many prophetic declarations beyond 
the experience, reasoning and conception of 
man? Matt. 27:63. 28:7. 



•c5)^ra& 



EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 



LESSON XL 



" And they heard the voice of the Lord walking in the 
garden."— Gen. 3: 8. 



1. Adam and his companion were both fallen; 
yet they heard God's voice, but apparently at a 
distance. The sweet communion of approval 
had gone, but the spirit of prophecy still 
lingered. 

2; God gave him a prophetic view of Christ. 
By this means he heard God say to the serpent, 
or Satan, "'I will put enmity between thee and 
the woman, and between thy seed and her seed ; 
it [Christ] shall "bruise thy head, and thou shalt 
bruise his heel." 

3. These are figurative words, expressive of the 

5 



66 EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 

effective and permanent inroads to be made 
upon the kingdom of darkness; while the world 
would follow in retaliation with persecutions. 

4. Jacob, in a dying condition, saw the future 
of his sons. Out of the tribe of Judah he saw 
the coming Christ. "The sceptre shall not 
depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from between 
his feet, until Shiloh come ; and unto him shall 
the gathering of the people be." 

5. This passage is admitted by all to refer ' to 
Messias. Shiloh literally signifies rest. The 
tribe of Judah survived all other divisions of 
Israel, from which came Jesus of Nazareth, the 
accepted Christ of the world. 

6. On several occasions, Moses saw the coming 
Messias. On one occasion, he saw his prophetic 
gift. ' 'The Lord thy God will raise up unto 
thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy 
brethren, like unto me ; unto him ye shall heark- 
en," John asked, "Art thou he that should come?" 
Jesus replied, "Go tell John what things ye have 
seen and heard." 

7. Isaiah saw Messias in the, following declara- 
tion. ' ' For unto us a child is born, unto us a son 
is given, and the government shall be upon his 
shoulder ; and his name shall be called Wonder- 
ful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting 
Father, the Prince of Peace." 

8. As a definite view of the coming Christ, 
Daniel's vision exceeds all others. "Seventy 



EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 67 

weeks are determined upon thy people and upon 
thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to 
make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation 
for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting right- 
eousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, 
and to anoint the Most Holy." 
9. "Know therefore and understand, that from 
the going forth of the commandment to restore 
and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah, the 
Prince, shall be seven weeks, and three-score and 
two weeks. The street shall be built again, and 
the wall, even in troublous times." 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is said of the state of our first parents? 
What did they hear ? 

How was that voice now changed ? 

What became of their habits of communion ? 

Did the faculty of prophecy at once leave ? 

2. What was his prophetic view ? 
What did he hear God say ? 

Who are the*' seed "of the serpent?* John 8: 
44. 

Who is the seed of the woman here?* Gal. 
3:16. 

What was Christ to do ? 

What would the world do in return? 

Have not the works of Christianity, and the 



68 



EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 



persecutions of the world, demonstrated the truth 
of this prophecy ? * 

3. How are these words used ? 
What is the mission of the gospel? 
How will the seed of the serpent repay ? 

4. What did Jacob see ? 
What else? 

How long was this prior to Christ's advent ?* 

How did he express it ? 

What did Christ say?* John 12: 32. 

5. What are the admissions of all ? 
The meaning of Shiloh ? 

What is true of the tribe of Judah ? 

Does not this fact explain the meaning of the 
word sceptre ? 

When was this tribe completely broken up ? * 

What son, of this tribe, answered to this pro- 
phecy ? 

6. What is said of Moses ? 

What peculiarity of Christ did he see? 

In what respect was Christ like unto Moses ? 

What did John ask ? 

What reply was sent ? , 

Were not these things sufficient ? * 

7. What is said of Isaiah ? 
What language is quoted ? 

Have not all these .names been applied to 
Christ?* 

Could they be truthfully applied to any other?* 

8. What is said of Daniel's view? 



EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 69 

What does he say ? Dan. 9 : 24. 

How are these weeks generally reckoned ? * 
Ezek. 4:6. 

How many years do they make?* 

To what point do they reach ? 

What does anoint mean ? 

Who was the one thus anointed ? * Acts 10 : 38. 

Where?* John 1:33. 

What year A. D.? 
9. When did the four hundred and ninety years 
commence ? 

Why is this time divided into seven, sixty- two, 
and one week ? 

How long was that temple in building ? * John 
2:20. 

How many years from its completion, to 
Christ's baptism ? * Dan. 9 : 25. 

What year A. D. was Jesus baptized ? * Matt. 
4:8. 

How old was he at this time ? * Lu. 3: 23. 

What year A. D. did he die ? * Matt. 27 : 

How long had he been preaching ? * 



EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 



LESSON XII. 



For all the prophets prophesied until John." [Matt. 11 : 13.] 



1. The prophets were not always, exclusively 
engaged with the question of the coming Christ. 
Other events, secular and political, came bef o re 
them. Great physical changes of the earth,, 
changes of seasons, and river-courses, routes of 
travel, and result of battles, were often and ac- 
curately foretold by them. . 

2. One hundred and twenty years before it 
came to pass, Noah saw the waters covering the 
land, beyond the possibility of saving life, other 
than by means of an ark. - The general shape, 
manner of building, kind of wood, length, 
breadth, depth, and divisions within, he pro- 



EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 71 

fessed to have received from the Spirit of God. 

3. There was nothing to indicate such a change. 
Humanly speaking, there stood against it, the 
observations, experiences, intuitions, and reason- 
ings of mankind. None but God could know the 
causes then at work, or to be set at work, that 
would result in the dismemberment of this 
world's crust. 

4 . The fact that Moses could record the fulfill- 
ment, even to minute items, wherein men and 
women, cattle, beasts, birds, and creeping things, 
were gathered and saved, though the waters, for 
months, stood above the highest mountains of 
Asia, is evidence of divine inspiration. 

5. , Moses, with the most hopeful disposition, 
was compelled to see the heart-rending misfor- 
tunes that should befall his own people: " The 
Lord shall bring a nation against thee from afar, 
from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle 
flyeth : a nation whose tongue thou shalt not un- 
derstand." 

6. "And he shall besiege thee in ail thy gates, 
and thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, 
the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, in the 
siege and in the straightness, wherewith thine 
enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates." 

7. "For I know that after my death, ye will 
corrupt yourselves, an 1 turn aside from the way 
which I have commanded you ; and evil will 
befall you in the latter days." 



72 



EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 



8. The recorded history of Shalmaneser's siege 
of Samaria, and Vespasian's last siege of Jerusa- 
lem, is a most literal fulfillment of all that Moses 
has recorded. 

9. He saw them led, with their king, as slaves, 
into a foreign land. The government left by 
Moses was a theocracy. It made no provisions 
for a king. But the change of their government 
came before him, and the general consequences 
of their idolatry. 

10. We do not see how anything, but the spirit 
of God, could so minutely follow the history of a 
people, through hundreds of years, giving all the 
leading events, and their causes. 

11. Zephaniah saw the utter destruction of 
Nineveh, when the city numbered at least 600,000 
persons, sustained by the leading power of the 
earth. A city walled and defended as the strong- 
hold of the earth. 

12. "He shall stretch out his hand against 
the north, and destroy Assyria ; and will make 
Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. 
And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her; 
all the beasts of the nations ; both the cormorant 
and the bittern shall" lodge in the upper lintels of 
it ; their voice shall sing in the windows ; deso- 
lation shall be on the thresholds ; for he shall 
uncover the cedar work. 

13. iC This is the rejoicing city that dwelt care- 
lessly ; that said in her heart, I am, and there is 



EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 73 

none beside me." The walls of this city exceeded, 
for strength, the more modern Chinese wall ; yet, 
in Alexander's time, not a remnant was left in 
sight, to show that Nineveh ever existed. 

14. Babylon, in after years, was more renowned, 
and larger, than Nineveh. It was fifteen miles 
square, had twenty-five brazen gates on each 
side, and a wall three hundred and fifty feet 
high, eighty feet thick, permitting six chariots to 
drive abreast upon its top. 

15. While in its zenith of glory, Isaiah uttered 
the following prophecy: "Babylon, the glory 
of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excel- 
lency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom 
and, Gomorrah." 

16. "It shall never be inhabited, neither shall 
it be dwelt in from generation to generation ; 
neither shall the Arabian pitch his tent there ; 
neither shall the shepherds make their fold 
there.'' x 

17. " But wild beasts of the desert shall be there 
and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures^ 
Sit thou silent and get thee into darkness, O 
daughter of the Chaldeans, for thou shalt no 
more be called the lady of kingdoms." 

18. Ezekiel saw Nebuchadnezzer coming from 
Babylon, by the way of the north, and besieging 
Tyre. He saw the city disappear, and fisher- 
men spreading their nets upon its site. History 
confirms both these particulars. The king of 



74 EVIDENCE PROM PROPHECY. 

Babylon came by way of the north, and besieged 
Tyre, for thirteen years, and took it. But it was 
not utterly destroyed, until the early part of the 
present century ; since which time, fishermen 
have spread their nets upon its ancient site. 
19. Such examples might be extended indefi- 
nitely ; but it is deemed enough have been given 
to establish the claim of these writers to divine 
inspiration. 



questions . 

1. What is said of prophets? 

To what did their prophetic sight extend? 

2. How long before the flood did Noah foresee 
it? 

In what particulars did God direct him ? 

3. Could he have inferred this from natural 
indications ? 

What seemed to refute it ? 

Who alone could have known these things ? 

4. What historic fact has Moses recorded? 
What is the inference ? 

5. What is said of Moses disposition ? 
What was he compelled to see ? 
What language is quoted ? 

What nation is meant?* 2 Chron. 39: 6,7. 
May not other nations be included ? * 

6. What particulars are recorded ? 



EVIDENCE FKOM PROPHECY. 75 

How many times has Jerusalem been be- 
seiged ? * 

7. What did Moses assign ? 

What was the condition of the nation then ? * 
Deut. 11: 24:25. 

8. Who beseiged Samaria ? 

Who finally destroyed Jerusalem ? 

What is true in Samaria's distress?* 2 King 
6:28:29. 

What in Jerusalem's ? * See Josephus. 

What Israelitish king was led captive by the 
Assyrian monarch ? * 2 Kings 17 : 4. 

9. What was the government left by Moses? 
Were provisions made for a king? 

How long after this before they elected a 
king?* 1 Sam. 8:19. 
Did Moses behold this ? 
What else? 

10. Can we account for this, other than by 
inspiration ? 

11. What did Zephaniah see ? 

In what condition was Nineveh ? 

12. What did he say? 

13. What was their boast ? 
What is said of her walls? 

14. What is said of Babylon? 
How large was it ? 

15. What was the prospect of this city, when 
prophecy recorded its fate ? 

What did Isaiah say ? * Isa. 13 : 19. 



76 



EVIDENCE EKOM PROPHECY. 



16. What about the duration of their desola- 
tion? 

What is the appearance of Babylon to-day ?* 
What is true of the Arab ? * See Layard. 

17. What is said of the beasts there ? 
How does the prophet address her ? 
Has she not gone into darkness? * 

18. What did Ezekiel see ? 
What else ? 

How does history correspond ? 

How long did Nebuchadnezzer beseige Tyre ? 

When was it utterly destroyed ? 

What is true to-day. 

19. Are these all ? 

To what conclusion have you come? 



-&S)(o^ ; 



THE PKOPHETIC CHAEACTEE OF 
CHEIST. 



LESSON XIII. 



A great prophet is among us."— Luke, 7: 16. 



1. Christ would scarcely have been ready to 
meet the treachery of his age, without the 
prophetic spirit. 

2. Moses foresaw that Christ's prophetic power 
would be equal to his own. This claim leaves 
nothing farther to be desired as a prophet. He 
who knew God, face to face, understood whereof 
he spoke. "The Lord thy God will raise up 
unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, 
of thy brethren, like unto me." The Jew- 
ish nation, thenceforth, looked for that prophet. 
Hence the inquiries sent to John. 

3. John was a mighty prophet. He saw one 
rising among them, whose powers were so much 



78 PEOPHETIC CHARACTKEK OF CHRIST. 

above his own, as to forever eclipse his gift, 
which, with his fame, must, thenceforth, 
decrease. "But he must increase." 

4. The people, who knew Christ best, held him 
to be a prophet. Those with whom he conversed 
at length, and those whom he healed, seemed to 
have perceived by intuition that Christ was a 
prophet. The awakened Samaritan woman re- 
plied, "Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet." 
They say unto the blind man again, ' ' What say- 
est thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes?" 
"He saith he is a prophet." 

5. Christ, himself, claimed the prophetic power. 
' ' Jesus said unto them, a prophet is not without 
honor, save in his own country, and in his own 
house." 

6. This inner sight showed itself in Christ, by 
the readiness with which he read the thoughts 
of his audience. His replies were often made to 
the mental reasonings of men, where naught but 
his own voice had broken the stillness of the 
hour. 

7. Colloquial discourses were thus continued 
for many minutes together ; where all the char- 
acters, save one, were silent. This shows the 
presence of the prophetic gift. We have only to 
show that God made use of it, and we prove di- 
vine inspiration. 

8. Christ cited his works as proof. These were 
conclusive to those beholding them, but not to 



PROPHETIC CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 79 

those who must be convinced of the truth of the 
purported facts, although they are sustained by 
many witnesses, sacred and profane. 

9. We have the testimony of the apostles, that 
Christ saw while in Galilee ; the sickness of 
Lazarus in Judea. He saw that it would result 
in death, and that he would be raised by mirac- 
ulous aid. 

10. Christ foresaw the manner of Peter's death. 
"Verily, verily I say unto thee, when thou wast 
young thon girdest thyself, and walk edit whither 
thou wouldst : but when thou shalt be old, thou 
shalt stretch forth thy hand, and another shall 
gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldst 
not." 

11. The warning given to Peter, to place him on 
his guard, and the historic verification, in the trial 
of Christ before Caiaphas, is equally conclusive. 
He not only saw the person, but the language, 
and the number of times repeated. "Before 
the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice." 

12 . Jesus familiarly referred to the circumstances 
of having seen one of his disciples beneath a 
certain fig-tree in the distance. This convinced 
Philip that he was the Christ. Our Saviour did 
not deny his inference, but spoke of it as being 
of comparatively small importance, compared 
with evidence yet to be given. It did however, 
show, that he knew men before seeing them. 

13. Should it be proved that clairvoyance can do 



80 PEOPHETIC CHAKACTEB OF CHBIST; 

as much, it by no means lessens the fact of the 
inspiration of this event, since comparatively 
small truths come within the province of inspi- 
ration, as well as the mightiest. But this much 
cannot be said of clairvoyance. Only those 
things, which pertain to human knowledge, 
come within its range. 

14. When Christ looked upon Jerusalem, and 
foretold its destruction, the utter demolition of 
the temple, the final scattering of the Jews, and 
by what means these woes would come upon 
that generation, he spoke as one of God's true 
prophets, inspired by him, who only knows the 
unacted future. 

15. So completely was the knowledge of com- 
ing events with him, that his disciples attest, 
that he was never surprised by a single occur- 
rence. "Jesus knew all things, " is a sentence 
the substance of which, was many times repeated 
by them. So universal was this knowledge, 
that they readily awarded to him the appellation 
of prophet, yea, and much more than a prophet. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is said of Christ ? 

What are we about to show ? 
Is it not probable, that this gift was from 
birth ? * 



PROPHETIC CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 81 

Is not this sufficient, to account for his wisdom 
at twelve?* 

2. With whom did Moses compare him ? 
What is said of this claim ? 

What reflection concerning Moses '? 

Repeat his prophecy. Deut. 18 : 15. 

Did the ancient Jews understand his prophecy ? 

What question arose about John ? John, 1:21. 

3. W T hat was John ? 

What vision did he have, concerning Christ ? 
What did he say of his own fame ? 

4. How did the people regard Christ ? 
How did they arrive at their conclusions ? 
What did the Samaritan woman say? 

^hat did the man, who was blind, say, after 
being healed ? 

5. What did Christ claim? Matt. 13 :57. 

Did Christ claim for his prophetic power 
equality with God? * Mark, 13 : 32. 

6. How did his inner sight show itself ? 
To what were his replies often addressed ? 
Read as examples, Luke 5: 22; 9: 47. 

7 . What is said of some of his colloquial dis- 
courses? 

What did this show? 

What is farther necessary to divine inspira- 
tion? 

Have we this evidence?* 

8. For what purpose did Christ cite his works?* 
Matt. 11:3—6. 

6 



82 PBOPHETIC CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 

To whom were these works conclusive ? 
Are they to skeptics ? 
Ought they not to be sufficient to all ? 
How are the facts sustained ? 

9 . What apostolic testimony do we have ? 
What particulars ? 

10. What instance is not d in this verse ? 
Repeat his language. 

How did Peter die ? * 

11. What is said of Jesus' last warning ? 
Repeat the warning. 

12. What incident is refered to in this verse? 
What effect on Philip ? 

How did Christ regard this evidence ? 
What did it show? 

13. What is said of clairvoyance ? 

Can this power lessen the evidence of inspira- 
tion? 

With what does inspiration deal ? 
Can this be said of clairvoyance ? 

14. Of what city and people did Christ pro- 
phesy ? 

What were the particulars ? 

How soon might they expect it ?* Luke 21: 
32. 

What may we say of the fulfillment of this 
prophecy ? 

15 Did Christ have this gift in constant exer- 
cise? 

What did the apostles often say of him ? 

Did they stop by merely calling him a prophet ? 



THE SEALING OF PROPHECY, 



LESSON XIV. 



" For I testify unto every man, that heareth the words of 
the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these 
things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written 
in this book."— Rev. 22: 18. 



1 . The Bible speaks of different dispensations, 
by the same spirit. To a great extent, for the 
first four thousand years of man's probation, 
spiritual interests were entrusted to the charge 
of angels. They were generally the vehicles of 
God's manifestations to man. They acted as 
messengers of grace or of justice, as the good of 
the world demanded. This period was called a 
1 ' dispensation of angels . " 

2. Tlien, prophecy, in connection with offerings, 
constituted one of the grand means of spiritual 
instruction. All great truths, to the earlier ages 



84 THE SEALING OF PROPHECY. 

had to be illustrated, accompanied with the 
divine presence. The necessities of the world 
have been the gauge of God's mode of aotion. 
These things pointed to a better means of ap- 
proach, when the race should be farther devel- 
oped. 

3. Paul affirmed that these things " stood only 
in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and 
carnal ordinances, imposed on them, until the 
time of reformation. " Daniel saw that the sealing 
of prophecy would be among the great things 
accomplished by the Messiah. 

4. " Seventy weeks are determined upon thy 
people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the 
transgression, and to make an end of sins, and 
to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring 
in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the 
vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most 
Holy." 

5. The period of Christ's baptism was the pe- 
riod of Christ's anointing,, or being set apart. 
This was A. D. 27. This was the completion of 
sixty-nine of the seventy weeks, or four hundred 
and eighty-three years from the decree of Arta- 
xerxes to rebuild Jerusalem. 

6. Forty- nine of these years were occupied in 
building the temple. This gives the first meas- 
ure exactly. The period of Christ's baptism 
corresponds with the ending of sixty-two more. 
He was to confirm the covenant with many for 



THE SEALING OF PROPHECY. 85 

one week more, and yet he was to » cause the 
sacrifice to cease, in the midst of the week. 

7. Christ was crucified A. D. 33, having been 
publicly shown to Israel six years. One year 
more the apostles labored about Jerusalem, 
confirming believers, when the persecution 
arose concerning the death of Stephen : and the 
disciples were dispersed abroad. The week was 
ended : and Israel deprived himself of the labors 
of those, of whom he was not worthy. 

8. The angel showed Daniel how, after these 
events, portions of Messiah's work would linger. 
The doom of the holy city lingered thirty-seven 
years. Prophecy was closing, and the man 
commissioned ; who would utter the last inspired 
prophecy. The whole work was accomplished 
in sixty-five years after Christ was crucified. 
Christ said it would all take place within that 
generation. 

9. That the apostles were miraculously endow- 
ed, and that the gift of prophecy, on rare occa- 
sions, was imparted to them, there is abundant 
proof. But none of them were natural prophets. 
None of them lived under the constant exercise 
of the gift. 

10. Paul saw in a vision, if the ship set sail 
from t Fair Havens at that time, damage to ship 
and life would ba the consequence. This was 
when he could not gain the confidence of the 
captain. Gaining his confidence, in the midst of 



86 



THE SEALING OF PROPHECY. 



danger, a second vision announced the safety of 
life, but a wreck of the ship. In the hour of 
their calamity he again lost the confidence of the 
officers, when a third vision announced the des- 
truction of life, unless they tarried until a more 
favorable time. This shows that prophecy is 
not fate. It is a foreseeing of result following 



cause. 



11. Peter had a vision upon the subject of 
human equality. Jude upon latter-day ship- 
wrecks of faith, and balsphemous denials of 
Christ. But upon all ordinary occasions, they 
had to decide like other men. We instance their 
ecclesiastical decision, concerning circumcision. 

They acted as inspired witnesses. Theirs 
was the inspiration of superintendence, to pre- 
serve to the world, the works and truths of the 
gospel. The spirit of prophecy was closing. 

12. Christ had promised two of them, viz : to 
James and John, the baptism, with which he 
was baptized, or a similar endowment of spirit. 
James was a model preacher and consecrated 
writer ; but to no great extent, does he show the 
gift of prophecy. 

13. Upon John, seems to have rested this spe- 
cial gift, and with the avowed declaration that, 
with his book, ended divinely inspired prophet 
and prophecy. The vision is closed. 

14. The book of Eevelation contains abundant 



THE SEALING OF PROPHECY. 87 

evidence of being divinely inspired. Some of 
this prophecy remains to be fulfilled. Like all 
that has gone before it, the exact meaning cannot 
be ascertained until the events pass into history. 
15. Many commentators have alluded to the 
significant fact that with the sealing of prophecy 
the language, in which they were written, ceased 
to be living or spoken languages. All living 
languages are subject to progressive changes and 
alterations. But those that go out of use remain 
as they were. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. Of what does the Bible speak? 

To whom, in early time3, were] spiritual inter- 
ests entrusted? 
What were they ? 
In what capacities did they act ? 
What was this period called? 

2. How did God use prophecy to the people? 
How did they gain a knowledge of great 

truths ? 

What seems to have been the measure of God's 
action ? 

To what do these things point ? 

3. What does Paul say ? 
What did Daniel see ? 

4. What is his language quoted? 



88 



THE SEALING OF PROPHECY. 



How are the seventy weeks divided ?* Dan. 9 : 
25—27. 

5. When was Christ anointed ? 

How many of the weeks ended here ? 
How are these to be reckoned ?* Ezek. 4: 6. 
When do they commence ? Dan. 9: 25. 
W T hen was this ?* Ezra. 7 : 13. 

6. How long was the temple in building ? 
Was Christ's anointing equally exact ? 
What was he to do in the remaining week ? 

7. What year was Christ crucified ? 

How long must he have been in the ministry ? 

What took place one year later ? 

Would not the depersion of Christians, under 
persecution, take the means of grace away ? 

Who were responsible for the rejection of the 
Jews ? 

8. What did the angel show Daniel ? 
How long did the city linger ? 

How long to the sealing of prophecy? 
What did Christ say ? 

9. What is said of the apostles ? 
Were they natural prophets ? 
Did they always have the gift ? 

10. What adverse things did Paul see ? 
When was life and ship in danger ? 
When was life out of danger ? 
When again in danger ? 

What was the result ? Acts 25 : 44. 
What does this show? 



THE SEALING OF PROPHECY. 89 

11. What vision did Peter have ? 
What was Jude's ? 

How did they generally decide ? 
What incident is presented ? 
How did they write and act? 
What was their inspiration ? 
What does it show ? 

12. What had Christ promised ? 
What was James' ? 

13 . What rested upon J ohn ? 
With what declaration ? 
With his book, what is true ? 

14. What is said of Eevelation ? 
Is it all fulfilled ? 

What of the unfulfilled? 

15. What significant fact is noted ? 
What may be said of living languages ? 
What is true of those dead? 



-«®<51fW^ 



GOD AS SUGGESTED IN GEOLOGY. 



LESSON XV. 



" Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the earth ? 
Declare if thou hast understanding."— Job 28: 4. 



1. Geology is the study of the earth's crust, in 
its organic structure. As a science, it is of 
modern origin. The great leading foundation 
principles of this science, as well as the more 
prominent headland truths, were mapped out by 
inspiration to Job and Moses. God has left 
only the details, to be filled up by scientific 
investigations. 

2. Unfortunately, many have entered upon this 
study, with an embryo skepticism lingering in 
their hearts, only waiting for the least show of 
reason against the idea of a living God, to avow 
themselves Atheists. Hence, to some, the name 



GOD AS SUGGESTED IN GEOLOGY. 91 

geology suggests opposition to revelation, and 
blasphemous hate to the Scriptures. At all 
events, it affords a comfortable hiding place for 
small men of one study, to send forth great pre- 
tensions to scientific research, and to hold them- 
selves up to the people as oracles of wisdom. 

3. Such tendencies of mind have led to the 
attempt of conquering this study, without God's 
assistance ; to ignore all that has been said of 
God in the Bible, in connection with matter; yea, 
to search the earth's crust to find evidence, real 
or imaginary, against the inspiration of the 
Bible, and, if possible, against the existence of 
God. 

4. ' The result has been a large amount of cheap 
skepticism, a terrible display of learned audacity; 
and the privilege, in one generation, of undoing 
what another generation had supposed to be 
triumphantly established. 

5. Most of this study is confined to secondary 
causes. It is, emphatically, the study of cause 
and effect. From its peculiar nature, it affords 
the mind the opportunity of confining thought to 
secondary causes, thus leaving, the first great 
cause, out of the question. 

6. These causes arise from organized and unor- 
ganized matter. Causes, arising from matter 
unorganized, have neither will nor intuition; yet, 
they are among the most mighty, and extend 



92 



GOD AS SUGGESTED IN GEOLOGY: 



as far as any observed in nature. Such are heat, 
light, electricity and gravitation. 

7. But the causes, arising from that portion of 
matter which has once been organized, are more 
noticable, and appear more satisfactory, as they 
approach near our time. It is noticable that all 
these causes, arising from the vegetable kingdom, 
have neither will nor instinct. Still they show 
affinities, make selections, show conformations 
and adaptations, which, to one class of minds, 
suggest wonderful mysteries, in the laws of mat- 
ter. To another is suggested Him who hath not 
only will, but wisdom and goodness to guide; 
and, who dwelleth alike in the " Cedar of Leba- 
non and the hyss p of the wall." 

8. The organic world, below man, were not 
created in God's image ; hence, they are not 
adapted to show the moral character of God. 
What justice could we expect to read in the car- 
nivora of the seas ? What mercy in the fauna of 
the earth. Hence, the study of geology is no 
place to be impressed with that justice, mercy 
and truth, that, elsewhere, seem to belong to 
God. 

9. This study has generally been commenced, 
with the pre-occupied impression of the plutonic 
fires in the centers of the earth. The language of 
Moses, concerning ' - Waters above the firmament 
and waters beneath the firmament," the " Gath- 
ering of waters into one place," and the appear- 



GOD AS SUGGESTED IN GEOLOGY. 93 

ance of " dry land," as though coming up out of 
the ocean, must, upon this hypothesis, remain 
unintelligible. 

10. Job's language of the "Hiding of the 
waters as with a stone," the Psalmist's in 
" Founding the earth upon the seas, and estab- 
lishing it upon the floods," and Peter's allusion 
to the earth, " Standing in the water and out of 
the water," has no meaning to the consistent 
Plutonian. 

11. Since all theories of the earth's center are 
founded upon hypotheses, such direct language 
of the Bible ought to have caused the beginners 
in this science to pause, and reflect upon the 
probability of water filling the center of the 
globe. A failure to do this has served to sep- 
arate this study from the study of creation, as 
revealed in the Bible. 

12. Even those who are not anxious to find the 
Bible an antagonist to science, have too often 
supposed that they could get no scientific help 
from its statements. 

13. The object of revelation does not seem to 
be, to reveal things coming within the sphere of 
man's ability to find himself, but to bring to light 
"Hidden things that had been secret from the 
foundation of the world. " Such things, in the 
science of geolegy, have been brought out by 
revelation. 

14. The origin of matter, its first state, the first 



94 



GOD AS SUGGESTED IN GEOLOGY. 



formations, the gaseous condition of the matter 
of our own planet, its condition when condensed, 
the appearance of land at the surface, the crea- 
tion of flowerless plants, the end of the carbon- 
iferous period, the creation of permanent kinds 
of fish and reptiles, the introduction of birds, 
gigantic mammals, beasts, cattle and man, are 
all given by inspiration through Moses. The 
Bible abounds with allusions, clearly sustaining 
the watery nucleus of our globe. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is geology ? 

What is said of it as a science ? 

What of its leading principles? 

Is not the Christian world largely indebted to 
this science, as a key, to a right understanding of 
the account by Moses ? 

2. What is unfortunate for the science ? 
What is Atheism?* Psalm 14: 1. 
What does this subject suggest to some ? 
What does it afford? 

May not a man be highly scientific, without 
being educated ?* 

3. To what has this state of mind led? 
What have they ignored ? 

What farther ? 

4. What has been the result ? 



GOD AS SUGGESTED IN GEOLOGY. 95 

Should not the ever changing conclusions of 
geologists, lead us to distrust the soundness of 
their hypothetical premises ?* 

5. To what is most of this study confined? 
Of what priciples is it a study ? 

To what is the mind liable ? 
What must result from this ? 

6. Whence arise these causes ? 

What is said of these causes, arising from un- 
organized matter ? 

What are some of them ? 

7. What is said of those from the organized ? 
What of those arising from the vegetable king- 
dom? 

What do they show? 

What is suggested to one class of minds ? 

Whom to another ? 

8. What is said of the organic world below 
man? 

What do they not really show ? 
What questions are asked ? 
What remark is made ? 

9. How is the study commenced ? 
What is said of Moses' language ? 
Where is this language found ? 

10. What allusion is quoted from Job, 38: 30? 
From Psalm 24:2? 

From 2 Peter, 3:5? 

What are all these passages to the Plutonian? 



96 



GOD AS SUGGESTED IN GEOLOGY. 



11. What do we call all theories of the earth's 
center? 

What ought these passages to have caused? 

12. What is said of another class ? 

13. What is not the object of revelation ? 
What is its object ? 

What is said of such things in geology? 

14. W T hat is the first point revealed in matter ? 
Gen. 1:1. 

What of its state ? Gen. 1 : 2. 

What was first formed ? Gen. 1 : 3. 

What is said of the gaseous condition of the 
earth? Gen. 1:7. 

Of the gathering of waters ? Gen. 1:9. 

Of the appearance of land ? Gen. 1 . 9. 

Of flowerless plants? Gen. 1: 11. 

Of the end of the carboniferous period? 

Gen. 1:19. 

Of the creation of permanent fish and reptiles ? 
Gen. 1 : 20. 

What is said of the introduction of birds? 

Gen. 1:20. 

Of gigantic mammals? Gen. 1: 10. 

Of beasts? Gen. 1:25. 

Of cattle? Gen. 1:25. 

What is said of man? Gen. 11: 26. 

W T ith what does the Bible abound ? 



GOD AS SUGGESTED IN GEOLOGY. 



LESSON XVI. 



"If, they speak not according to this word, it. is because 
there is no light in them."— Isa. 8: 20. 



1. The human mind has only to reject the 
Bible, to be as a helpless boat, upon an unknown 
sea. Especially is this true, in the study of 
secondary causes, -within the earth's crust. Con- 
stantly looking downward, as though in contempt 
of the human form divine, or unmindful of the 
image of God, in which created man tries to 
behold causes, coming only within his knowl- 
edge, or, at least, within his comprehension. 

2. He soon learns to classify causes as known, 
and unknown, comprehensible, and incompre- 
hensible. The incomprehensible immediately 
become the doubtful, and finally the impossible. 

7 



98 GOD AS SUGGESTED IN GEOLOGY. 

This is an attempt of the finite to either grasp or 
reject the infinite. Every aspect of nature, in 
reference to its maker, taketh hold on infinity. 
Hence, first causes, to this class of minds, 
become things ignored. 

3. The mind becomes a matter-of-fact tracer of 
secondary causes, and their effects. To do this 
well is to be a scientist in one's own estimation, 
a philosopher, it may be, but as Paul would say, 
" falsely so called. " 

4. This is a great loss of vantage ground to the 
human soul, from which the mind forces the 
conclusion that there is no great first cause. 
Atheism results, and the man is without God. 
Better never study geology, than to do so with- 
out proper reverence for the Almighty. 

5. On the other hand, this beautiful machinery 
of secondary causes is well calculated to enlarge 
the soul, and to fortify the well balanced mind, 
in adoration and worship of the Author and 
Giver of every good thing. The adoration of 
God, in the material things of geology, should 
not prevent our regarding God as a Spirit, to be 
worshiped in spirit and in truth. 

6. We enter a manufacturing establishment. 
"We stand in the midst of machinery surrounded 
by a multitude of effects. Each has its cause. 
Here are different patents, brought, from differ- 
ent parts of the world, each to produce some 



GOD AS SUGGESTED IN GEOLOGY. 99 

desired effect. Here is a whirling spindle, there 
a flying shuttle, yonder an unwinding bobbin. 

7. We trace the power that moves them to a 
little band, and this to a revolving shaft among 
many like itself, and each to a larger band, con- 
necting with the main shaft. This is turned by 
the main belt, carried over the balance wheel of 
forty tons weight, made fast to a shaft, having 
at one end a crank. This is in connection with 
the piston, which manipulates condensed steam, 
prepared in an adjoining boiler, all built by the 
ingenuity of the human mind. 

8. Even here, we have not reached the first 
cause. That first cause, of the mind itself, is God. 
Each intermediate cause ought to enlarge our 
ideas of the one going before, until the first 
cause is reached, and God shall have the glory 
of the creation of the series of powers. In man's 
case he becomes morally responsible for the use 
he makes of his powers. Hence, morally account- 
able for effects, inasmuch as he had a choice of 
causes. 

9. God is present in all causes organic and 
inorganic. Hence, in a sense, all results are his 
work This sense, is that in which he causes 
effect to follow. Man, in his freedom, may use 
secondary causes in an adverse manner, but in 
such case God has appointed the effects that 
shall follow. Good causes shall produce good 
results : bad causes bad results. 



100 GOD AS SUGGESTED IN GEOLOGY. 

10. God is responsible for such a general law 
of sequence. With perfect freedom to use the 
good cause, only, man has no right to complain 
of this order. The sequence mostly occupying 
the attention of geologists, lies below the line of 
moral law. 

11. The ancients evidently viewed God often 
through the laws of sequence. This is the key 
to the interpretation of such passages as couple 
the actions of wicked men in vice, with God's 
action. This view of the Maker present in 
the law He 'has made, has its good purpose in 
the Christian education; but if it is all the view 
we choose to take of God, His moral character 
will suffer in our minds, unjustly to be sure, but 
nevertheless real. 

12. Such is the study of geology without God. 
Better never touch it, than to trust to our powers 
of reasoning, forgetful of his claims upon us. 
To the true worshiper, this study will be one of 
great profit, especially if commenced upon the 
hypothesis according with the leading principles, 
revealed upon creation. In such case, the study 
will be emphatically to us the "Foot prints of 
the Creator."" 



QUESTIONS. 

1. "What is man without the Bible ? 
Where is this especially "Jarae? 






GOD AS SUGGESTED IN GEOLOGY. 101 


• 

Which way is the geologist too apt to look ? 


Of what unmindful? 


To what does he confine his researches? 


2. How does he classify? 


"Where does he place the incomprehensible? 


What do all'such finally become? 


Does not such a view entirely exclude the 


idea of God's providence or sovereignty ?* 


What is this attempt ? 


Of whom does nature speak ? 


What does the skeptic do with first causes ? 


3. What does his mind become ? 


When does he count himself a scientist? 


What has Paul said of them? 


4. What harm will result? 


What would be better ? 


5. On the other hand what is true ? 


What should it not prevent ? 


6. What are we to enter ? 


By what surrounded? 


What does each effect have ? 


What do we notice? 


What motions? 


7. To what do we trace the power ? 


Mention the intermediate steps to the fountain? 


8. Have we reached, in the human mind, the 


first cause of all these effects ? 


What is the first ? 


What effect should the laws of sequence have 


upon us ? 


I 



102 GOD AS SUGGESTED IN GEOLOGY. 

What inheres to moral action ? 
Why? 

9. W T hat is said of God ? 
What of results ? 

In what sense is it used ? 
What freedom is given us ? 
W T hat is the law governing ? 

10. Who made the law of sequence ? 
Why has man no right to complain ? 

What kind of sequence mostly occupies the 
minds of geologists ? t 

11. How did the ancients often view God and 
speak of Him ?' 

To what is the above explanation a key ? 
To whom is the view an essential part of 
education ? 

To whom will it be an injury ? 

12. What remark is made ? 

When would we be better off without the 
study ? 

What to the true worshiper ? 

What will increase it ? 

What will the study be to such ? 

Is this all, or the most we need to know of 
God ?* 



GOD AS SHOWN IN CHEMICAL 
AFFINITIES. 



LESSON XVII. 



" Through faith we understand that the worlds were 
framed by the word of God, so that things, which are seen, 
were not made of things which do appear."— Heb. 11: 3. 



1: Chemical affinity is the tendency of one ele- 
ment to unite with another. But for this, chaos 
would still reign. With the creation of each 
primary gas, a law was given, assigning to each 
one its proportion of some other gas. This is 
called its equivalent. 

2 . The mode of uniting was also given. Thus, 
nitrogen could select its equivalent of oxygen, 
and, without the intervention of a third agent, 
become air. But this is not the case with the 



104 GQD AS SHOWN IN CHEMICAL AFFINITIES. 



union of oxygen and hydrogen. They unite 
only by the aid of the fiery spark, and water is 
the result. 

3. Four leading gases make the greater part of 
matter of our globe. These are oxygen, nitro- 
gen, hydrogen and carbon. The union of the 
first two, in the proportion of twenty-one to 
seventy-nine parts, gave us our atmosphere. 
Though it has been for millions of years depos- 
iting itself in consolidated and organized form 
upon the earth, it still remains to us life-sus- 
taining and invigorating. We miss none of its 
parts. 

4. Our atmosphere had once to contend with 
carbonic acid gas, in untold quantities. Until 
these gases were deposited, in an organized form 
upon the earth, warm blooded animals could not 
exist. The agent by which all this has been 
brought about, is called chemical affinity. It is 
God's minister in the organization of matter. 

5. This is the agent, not only by which our 
atmosphere was combined in its creation, but by 
which it has been cleared, of noxious, deadly ele- 
ments. The atmosphere emerged from chaos, 
loaded with the material for the coal measures. 
Affinity was God's great purifier, in manufac- 
turing coal. 

6. By this agent, the element of water has 
become so universally diffused, as to allow of 
human habitation on. more than four-fifths of the 



GOD AS SHOWN IN CHEMICAL AFFINITIES. 105 

earth's crust. Through this agent we have crys- 
tallization, the gathering of various salts, car- 
bonates, phosphates and iodides, forming so 
much of the earth. 

7. This is the agent that has for so long time 
clothed this earth in beautiful green, rilling the 
air with fragrance ; that paints the field with its 
golden color, giving to us food and covering. 
Upon it we depend for material for shelter, 
and for mechanical industry, as well as for the 
material and means for locomotion. 

8. By it our food is prepared for the table, 
digested,- assimilated into tissue, and when worn 
out returned for fuel in the air cells. By it our 
parlors are warmed; and the walls of our houses 
are adorned. Life itself is sustained by its influ- 
ence. 

9. There is something of God's goodness seen 
in this law of adaptation. His wisdom and crea- 
tive power are seen in the wise provisions for 
uniting elements, with the view to the bringing 
forth of beings of still nobler organism. 

10. Especially, his creative wisdom is observed, 
in the proportions in which the primary elements 
unite to form compounds. But for these bounds, 
when the atmosphere was created all the oxygen 
of this globe might have been united with nitro- 
gen. In such case we should have no water, 
consequently no organic life. 



106 



GOD AS SHOWN IN CHEMICAL AFFINITIES. 



11. But for these bounds the compounds would 
be ever changing, after being made, thus endan- 
gering animal existence. Chemical experiments 
would be impossible, and consequently all me- 
chanical and chemical agents, formed by chem- 
ical combinations, would have been excluded. 

12 Such facts lead us to reflect that God is 
good, in that he has adapted everything to its 
place. "He hath done all things well." God 
has made it possible for each one to perfect hap- 
piness, so long as there is co-operation, from the 
lower organisms, toward the higher. 

13. But such is about the extent of the knowl- 
edge of God, by chemical affinities. God's good- 
ness as seen in adaptation, is not sufficient for 
unadaptation. Hence, the soul, restricted to 
such knowledge, must come short of , knowing 
God as a Saviour. "The depth saith, it is not 
in me ; and the sea saith, it is not with me." 

14. Or the other hand, a close observation of 
any element, not under control, has an opposite 
effect upon the mind. Cause, pushing effects to 
extremes, regardless of mercy, and utter desola- 
tion lying in the fire-fiend's track, might seem to 
forbid our approach to him, who made the 
elements what they are. 

15. The language of these forked tongues, as 
they angrily leap from the Mansard-roof, may do 
to show the end of that part of nature, alienated 
and defiant, and past probation ; but it is not 



GOD AS SHOWN IN CHEMICAL AFFINITIES. 107 

such as man needs to hear, in order to return in 
confidence and trust to his Maker. 
16. Such are floods, winds and storms, so far 
as they can show forth anything of God. They 
were never designed to teach a Saviour, and 
they cannot go beyond the divine instruction. 
" The world by wisdom knew not God." 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is chemical affinity? 
Without this what would still reign ? 

What was given at the creation of each pri- 
mary ,gas ? 

What is this called ? 

2. What else was given ? 

What results from the union of nitrogen with 
its equivalent of oxygen ? 

In what manner do they unite ? 
How do oxygen and hydrogen unite ? 
What results? 

3. How many leading gases make the greater 
part of earth? 

What are they called ? 

In what proportion do the first and second 
unite ? 

What remark is made ? 

4. With what poisonous gas did our atmosphere 
have to contend ? 



108 GOD AS SHOWN IN CHEMICAL AFFINITIES. 

What good has resulted to the world from it ? 

What was the work of the carboniferous 
period ?* 

When could not warm-blooded animals exist? 

What agents wrought these mighty revolu- 
tions ? 

5. What has it done ? 

What relation does it hold to the world's 
fuel? 

What remark is made ? 

6. What to human habitation? 
What else do we have by it ? 

7. What may be said of it as an agent of 
beauty? 

Of utility ? 

For what do we depend upon it ? 

8. What relation to animal supplies? 
How do we meet it in our parlors ? 
What farther ? 

9. What is seen in this ? 
What else ? 

10. What especially ? 

How are we dependent upon this law for our 
atmosphere ? 

But for it, what would the world be without ? 

11. Without them, what would become of com- 
pounds? 

Of what in danger ? 

What would be impossible ? 

What would the world have never known ? 



GOD AS SHOWN IN CHEMICAL AFFINITIES. 109 

12. What reflections result ? 

In what sense is His goodness seen ? 
What is made possible ? 

13. What farther remark ? 

To what is this knowledge of God not adapted ? 

Of what does it come short ? 

What quotation is made ? Job 28:14. 

14. What is the result of a close observation ? 
What do we see ? 

How do we feel before them, in the light of 
their teachings ? 

15. For what, may the language of the angry 
elements of fire do ? 

For what not adapted ? 

16. What other elements are presented ? 

Will they succeed to teach mercy any better ? 
What quotation of Paul's ? 1 Cor. 1 : 21. 



:QSXo^ 



GOD AS SHOWN IN PHYSIOLOGY. 



LESSON XVIII. 



I am fearfully and wonderfully made." 



1. The study of physiology really includes 
anatomy and hygiene. Anatomy shows the 
structure of an organ. Physiology shows it's 
use. Hygiene shows how to keep it healthy. 
No other study, that of God excepted, affords so 
extensive a field for human research, and pro- 
found contemplation, as that of man. 

2. Here we shall find usefulness, economy, and 
pleasure combined. Molecular portions, used 
for the most exalted purposes, and then carefully 
carried forward to be economized into fuel : 
a motory apparatus involving the whole six me- 



GOD AS SHOWN IN PHYSIOLOGY. Ill 

chanical principles, most skillfully arranged ; a 
sensative apparatus with a net work of telegraph, 
some of whose operators never sleep ; an organic 
ganglia whose actions are co-equal with life. 

3. Here we shall find ganglia, whose mandates, 
laid upon the oak, cause it to lie at his feet, and 
again to arise and beautify his mansion ; a gang- 
lia, whose mandates girdle the earth, and sea, 
commanding the sun and lightnings to obey 
them. 

4. Here we shall find ganglia still more subtle 
in action, and capable of causing vibrations that 
echo and re-echo through the eternal vaults of 
heaven. From these go forth influences reach- 
ing the throne of. God, and affecting the universe 
of created intelligence. This is thinking, reason- 
ing, God-like man. To read him well, is to see 
Deity in some of the nobler relations of God, in 
nature. 

5. Some, who have entirely disowned their 
Maker, may study human anatomy and physi- 
ology, without seeing Jehovah. It is here as 
everywhere else, " Blessed are the pure in heart, 
for they shall see God." The unprejudiced mind 
reads something of him in every bone, in every 
bundle of fibres, in every plexus of nerves. 

6. We are interested to know just the phases 
of Jehovah's character, as shown by this study. 
Here, as in all nature, design, revealing the 
great Designer, is most clearly seen. It is seen 



112 



GOD AS SHOWN IN PHYSIOLOGY. 



in the material and shape of every bone, in the 
eye, ear, mouth and skin. It is proclaimed from 
every internal organ, and felt in the intuitions of 
the soul. 

7. There is manifest, a beautiful contrivance in 
adaptation, giving the contractility of a muscle 
at a point so far removed from the weight to be 
raised, or the point to be turned. He who made 
the soft fasciculi of fibres to be a raising power, 
condensed them into cords in passing the joints, 
or where they would show awkwardly in bulk. 

8. The eye is adapted to the laws of light, 
resulting in the blessings of sight. The ear 
is adapted to the vibrations of air, resulting 
in sound. The larynx, vocal cords, trachea, 
bronchi and lungs, are adapted to make sound, 
resulting in language, that highest gift in man. 

9. The hand and arm of man are adapted to the 
various movements, requisite to the acomplish- 
ment of art, and the varied mechanism requisite 
to a life of usefulness and happiness. Pleasure 
and duty are made to go hand in hand. Every 
step, in primary assimilation, and every selective 
act, in the secondary, become a source of pleas- 
ure and profit to man. 

10. The wonderful power of muscles voluntary 
and involuntary, their .reflex motive power in 
training, all bespeak sovereign power, wisely 
providing for all the exigencies of man's physical 
labors. 



GOD AS SHOWN LN PHYSIOLOGY. 113 

QUESTIONS . 

1 . What is included in the study of physiology ? 
What does anatomy show ? » ■* 

What does physiology ? 
What does hygiene ? 
What is said of the study ? 
For what length of time have the world been 
engaged in this study ?* 

2. What combination shall we find here ? 
What is said of molecular portions ? 

Of the motary apparatus ? 
Of the organic ganglia ? 

3. What is farther said of nerve ganglia ? 
Through what physical channels does the mind 

act ?* 

How far reaching are the mandates of mind ? 

Was not the human mind so created as to con- 
trol matter ?* Heb. 11:7. 

Was this control over winds, waves and storms, 
objective or subjective ?* 

Is not the human mind gradually regaining its 
lost power over the elements ?* 

4. What is farther said ? 

What is the quality of action here referred to?* 
What influences result ? 
How is man defined ? 
What remark is made ? 

5. W T hat is said of others? 

Has the study of physiology generally led to 
piety ?* 

8 



114 GOD AS SHOWN IN PHYSIOLOGY. 

What is necessary in all study ? 

What is said of the unprejudiced mind ? 

6. What should interest us ? 
What do we first see ? 
What does design reveal? 
In what is design seen ? 
In what felt ? 

7. What is manifest? 
What contrivance for beauty is noticed ? 

8. To what is the eye adapted ? 
What is the resulting blessing ? 
Is not the work of nature, in conforming to 

existing law, a lesson to man in the presence of 
law?* 

To what is the ear adapted ? 

What results ? 

What is said of the vocal apparatus ? 

What results ? 

On what does the vocal apparatus depend, for 
the perfection of language ?* 

What is said of this gift? 

9. What is said of the arm ? 
What go hand in hand? 
What is said of assimilation? 

10. What muscular quality is referred to ? 
What acquired power ? 
What does it show ? 
What qualities of God do you here see ?* 



GOD AS SHOWN IN PHYSIOLOGY. 



LESSON XIX. 



" Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy 
Ghost?" 1 Cor. 6: 10. 



1 . The Apostle, Paul, has given the world one 
of the most expressive figures by which to rep- 
resent the human body. It is that of a house 
we live in, or temple for God's abode. This is 
represented as built up, changed, purified or 
polluted according to the tenor of our lives. 

2. The body is constantly being taken down, 
and rebuilt, moulded and adapted to the circum- 
stances of our being, as "Clay is moulded, in 
the hands of the potter. " Atomic particles are 
being placed as new matter, constantly approx- 
imating toward the character of the action that 
wasted itsjpredecessor. 



116 GOD AS SHOWN IN PHYSIOLOGY. 

3. Exercise increases this decay. As the worn- 
out particles become fuel, there is an increase 
of heat, and consequently an increased flow of 
blood to all parts of the system. This is one 
of nature's means for regulating the temperature 
of the body. 

4. The blood, in its passage through the capil- 
laries, becomes loaded with carbon, and must be 
returned to the heart' and lungs to be purified. 
Canals are laid along in the direction of the 
heart, and like rivers in their course to the sea? 
increasing in size and diminishing in numbers, 
until the right auricle of the heart is reached. 

5. Blood enters this as a reservoir. Contract- 
ing, the contents are thrown through the tricuspid 
valve into the right ventricle. Contracting, with 
considerable power, it throws the contents 
through the pulmonary arteries, into the lungs. 

6. Here the blood passes near the air cells, 
through whose thin walls the oxygen of the air 
passes into the blood, and the carbon of the 
blood passes into the air, forming carbonic acid 
gas. It now returns, through the pulmonary 
veins, to the left auricle. This completes the 
pulmonary circulation. 

7. The left auricle contracts, throwing the con- 
tents through the mitral valve, into the left 
ventricle. Powerfully contracting, the blood is 
sent up the aorta and over the system. This 
completes the systemic circulation. Such are 



GOD AS SHOWN IN PHYSIOLOGY. 117 

the wonderful means that God has chosen, by 
which to purify the blood. 

8. Another still more complex circulation exists 
in the liver, stomach and surrounding viscera, 
called the hepatic. Chemical analysis, supply, 
and farther purification is gained. 

9. God has prepared another apparatus, as a 
recruiting train, by which to replenish the blood. 
This involves the tongue, teeth, lips, fauces, 
pharynx, oesophagus, stomach, duodenum, intes- 
tines, lacteals, mesenteric glands and thoracic 
duct. 

10. These may well be regarded as so many 
servants, - laboring under guards or officers, 
whose head-quarters are in the ganglia of nerves. 
The ganglia are of five kinds, viz : Sensory, mo- 
tor, passionate, ideal and organic. The com- 
mander-in-chief, in the normal man, resides in 
the ideal. 

11. There is given to the body a law of con- 
formity, to enable man to adapt himself to exist- 
ing circumstances. The law provides for organic 
changes in the body, corresponding to the cus- 
tomary action put forth. This law enters into 
the structure of the nerve ganglia itself. 

12. "When man is brought under circumstances 
by which his movements must be greatly in- 
creased in speed, there immediately commences 
a more rapid waste of the parts acting. The 
plasma invited is of increased activity. The 



118 GOD AS SHOWN IN PHYSIOLOGY. 

motor ganglia, if increased physical action be 
required, becomes organically changed to meet 
the demands upon it. 

13. The seat of the will is in the ideal ganglia. 
If the ideal and moral become settled principles 
of our being, the will-power increases until 
habitual good action resolves itself into a kind of 
automatic action, or habit, and temptation upon 
any particular evil, upon which the mind has 
been exercised, becomes a thing of the past. 

14. On the other hand, habits of vice weaken 
the will-power against evil, and strengthen the 
passionate ganglia, until the organic man 
becomes enslaved, called by Paul a " Bondage 
of death." 

15. When debauchery has been fed for a long 
time by exciting stimulents, the will becomes so 
weak as to afford but little hope of reform, how- 
ever earnestly desired. Habitual inebriety, or 
inordinate indulgence in any passion, lessens 
the free agency of man. This tendency, when 
developed under transgression, cuts like the 
sword of the angel, both ways. The offence, in 
the light of justice only, forbids our return 
backward. Our future is still more clouded, in 
prospect of a decrease of will-power. 

16. Our habits become- the architect of our own 
being. We make, shape, and control the degree 
of our own physical activity. In a similar man- 
ner we build the predispositions of our moral 



GOD AS SHOWN IN PHYSIOLOGY. 119 

being, on which rests our moral character. The 
criminal has thrown away his freedom, and he 
becomes powerless before his crimes. 
17. The experience of the world goes to show 
that something more than will-power is needed 
to secure permanent reform. The gospel pro- 
fesses to offer the needed help, in the grace of 
God. All may have this who are willing to sub- 
ject themselves to the guidance of the Holy 
Spirit, as revealed through the word of inspira- 
tion. Under His guidance, the will-power grad- 
ually gains strength, and the moral man becomes 
convalescent. In due time, if properly nour- 
ished, he will become a power against evil. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is said of Paul? 
What is the figure used? 
How is it represented ? 

Do the same particles, of any portion of the 
human body, serve us for any considerable 
time ? * 

2. What is said of the body? 

What modifications are constantly going on ? 
What is said of atomic particles ? 
What is said of new matter deposited ? 

3. What is the effect of exercise? 
What do worn-out particles become ? 



120 GOD AS SHOWN IN PHYSIOLOGY. 

What results? 

What effect on the circulation? 

What grand design is here discovered? 

What moral qualities of God stand forth, in 
our ability to increase the fires of our own sys- 
tem?* 

4. What is said of the blood? 
Where must it be purified ? 
What provision for its return ? 
What simile is used ? 

To what do they take the blood ? 

5. What is this called? 
Through what does it pass out ? 
Into what does it go ? 

Through what channels does it next pass? 

Into what ? 

How purified? 

Through what does it return to the heart ? 

To what part of the heart ? 

What does this complete ? 

7. What is the effect of contracting the auricle ? 
How does the left ventricle act ? 

What becomes of the blood? 
Wliat does this complete? 
What remark? 

8. What is said here? 
What is it called? 

What is gained by this circulation ? 



GOD AS SHOWN IN PHYSIOLOGY. 121 

9. What farther provision is noticed ? 
What simile is used ? 

What is the object? 

What is the process called ? 

What is involved? 

10. How may we regard these ? 
How many kinds of nerve-ganglia ? 
Where does the commander reside? 
What faculty is referred to ?* 

11. What law is given ? 
For what purpose ? 
How does it do this? 

What changes in nerve-ganglia ? 

12. What results from increased physical move- 
ments ? 

What is the nature of the new plasma ? 
[^ What of the motor ganglia ? 

13. What is the seat of the will? 

What results when the ideal and moral become 
settled principles of our being ? 

What increased facility for moral action then? 

14. What results from the opposite course? 
What does Paul call this? Rom. 8: 23, 24. 

15. What is said of debauchery? 
What does inebriety do? 

How does it act on life? 



122 GOD AS SHOWN IN PHYSIOLOGY. 

Is not this the flaming sword of the angel in 
the garden ? * 

16. What do our habits become ? 
What physical creations ? 
What moral ? 
What has the criminal done ? 

17. What does the experience of the world 
show? 

WTiere is it found ? 

What is the condition ? 

What results ? 

What revolution, in due time, shall we see? 



c^(5)S¥?)0^o 



GOD AS SHOWN IN BOTANY. 



LESSON XX. 



" And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Leb- 
anon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of* the wall." — 
1 Kings, 4: 33. , 



1. Botany pertains to the vegetable kingdom. 
It is to this kingdom what the study of anatomy* 
physiology and hygiene is to the animal. Plants 
have all these terms, with similar meanings 
applied to them. Their structure, use, and 
manner of being preserved in health, bear 
sufficient analogy to the same terms, as applied to 
animals, as to show unity of design in the great 
Architect of nature. 

2. Vegetation was the first organic form of life, 
drawing its principle nourishment from the 
inorganic kingdom of minerals. Vegetation was 



124 GOD AS SHOWN IN BOTANY. 

first adapted to the element of water. It is still 
represented in fresh and salt. 

3. After the deposits appeared at the surface, 
another kind of vegetation was introduced ; but, 
at first, it was adapted to the dense atmosphere 
of carbonic acid gas, which, for many miles high, 
completely enveloped the globe. 

4. Each kind has its mode of breathing. 
These modes have their analogy in fish, reptiles 
and mammals. Vegetables will perish when 
deprived of their means of breathing. Plants 
inhale nitrogen and carbon, and exhale oxygen. 
Their relation to animals is manifold. It is not 
the least of their uses, that they keep up a true 
equilibrium in the element we breathe. But for 
vegetation, another belt of carbonic acid gas 
would gradually gather around the globe, cutting 
off the existence of warm-blooded animals from 
land and sea. 

5. Plants also have their regular periods for 
sleep and wakefulness. It is the custom of some 
flowers to smile at early dawn, vieing with art, 
in all its loveliness and beauty, to please the 
eye. At the close of the day, they fold their 
clothes about them, shut their eyes and go to 
sleep. 

6. Others turn their faces, so as to catch the 
direct rays of the sun, during the entire day. 
Some, in the colder zones, may be said to pass 
into a state resembling hibernation. In winter 



GOD AS SHOWN IN BOTANY. 125 

they appear nearly dead. They breathe less. 
The circulating fluid flows slowly, and life runs 
very low. The returning sun warms them again 
into activity and beauty. 

7. The fluids that circulate in the vegetable, 
the healing plasma, and mode of assimila- 
tion, primary and secondary, resemble the 
blood of animals. This may be increased in 
flow, or retarded ; made healthy, or allowed to 
become sickly. It may be small, or abundant, 
nourishing or dwarfing; bearing elements of 
greater or smaller growth. 

8. Vegetation seems wonderfully adapted in 
kind, to meet the wants of man in different 
climates. Those of the Torrid Zone are far less 
stimulating, and, consequently, more cooling and 
nourishing, in their effects upon the system. 

9. On the other hand, the bread-plants of the 
Temperate Zone, are more stimulating, heat- 
generating, last longer, are, consequently, more 
nourishing, in keeping up the needed fires, than 
cooling fruits would be. 

10. Many evidences of a desire to contribute to 
man's pleasure, as well as his health, are found 
among plants. No other reason can be given 
for the great variety of beautiful colors, in 
blending tints, appearing everywhere. The 
mountain and the valley, the field and the forest, 
alike present us with a scene of beauty, far 
exceeding all imitations by art. This pleasure 



126 



GOD AS SHOWN IN BOTANY. 



accompanies man in his researches into the 
microscopic portion of the vegetable kingdom. 

11. The general color of the forest, at all sea- 
sons, has its charms; but especially is it arrayed 
in beauty, as nature begins to prepare for its 
autumnal rest. The color and general aspect of 
light and shade, in field, pasture and lawn, are 
at once the most pleasing and invigorating to 
man. 

12. The same regard to animal happiness is 
seen in the judicious blending of acids, sugars 
and starch, so grateful to our taste, so essential 
to our enjoyment. 

13. But for such kind regard for our pleasure, 
the most nourishing vegetables might be the 
most loathesome to our taste, the most repulsive 
to the eye. Most poisonous vegetables are dis- 
agreeable to the taste, and of unpleasant odor. 
Here, in a higher sense than in geology, the 
great law of adaptation is resplendent with the 
power, wisdom, and goodness of God. 

14. The study of botany is well calculated to 
beget order, refinement, thoroughness, neatness, 
gentleness and goodness; but here, as every- 
where else in nature, the knowledge of a saviour 
is wanting. The study of God, in these aspects, 
is good so far as it goes, and suggestive of more 
that may be given ; but' it needs supplementing 
with revelation to make it complete. Then shall 
the dead, in sin, live, and the lost, in wrong, be 
found. 



GOD AS SHOWN IN BOTANY. 127 

QUESTIONS. 

1. To what does botany pertain? 
What analogy do we find in the animal king- 
dom? 

What is said of plants? 
What remark is made? 

2. What was the first order of organic life? 
From what does the vegetable derive its nour- 
ishment ? 

To what was it first adapted ? 
Where is it still represented ? 
What is the general name of plants that grow 
under water ?* 

3. What took place, after the deposits were 
built up to the surface ? 

How does Moses speak of this?* — Gen. 1:9. 

To what is it adapted ? 

What is said of carbonic acid ?* 

4. What is essential to the life of a vegetable? 
What analogy of breathiLg have we ? 
What is the effect of withholding this means ? 
What do plants inhale ? 
What do they exhale ? 
What is said of their relation to animals? 
What is given, as not their uses? 
Without them, what would again encircle the 

earth? 

What would perish? 

5. What is farther said, of the habits of plants? 
Of some flowers ? 



128 GOD AS SHOWN IN BOTANY. 

What do the j do at night? 

6. What is said of others ? 
Of those in colder zones ? 
How do they appear? 
What revives their life? 

7. What farther analogy ? 

What is said of vegetable circulation ? 

8. To what is it adapted? 

W T hat qualities of vegetables grow in the 
Torrid Zone ? 

9. What in the Temperate ? 
Why more nourishing ? 

10. What else is found ? 
What remark is made ? 
How does nature appear ? 

Where else may this pleasure be found ? 

11. What is said of the color of the forest? 
When mOst beautiful ? 

What is the general aspect? 

12. Where else is this regard shown? 
What is said of them? 

13. Without this regard what might have been? 
What is said of the poisonous? 

What additional advantage may be derived 
from the study of physiology ? 

14. What is this study adapted to do? 
What is wanting hqre ? 

What is said of the study of God ? 

What is needed ? 

What then may result ? 

Will this result be inevitable ? * John 8 : 24. 



GOD AS DECLARED BY THE HEAVENS. 



LESSON XXI. 



"When T consider Thy heavens the work of Thy fingers, 
the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained, what 
is man, that Thou art mindful of him ? " Ps. 8 : 2-4. 



1. Every point in the heavens is resplendent 
with the glory of its Creator. "The heavens 
declare the glory of God ; and the firmament 
showeth his handy work." Each motion in the 
heavens declares God's existing power. We 
will apply this thought to the orbicular move- 
ments of the planets. ~Let us commence with 
our own moon. 

2. This planet revolves about our earth, to the 
same point in the heavens, in about twenty-nine 
and a half days. Its heat and light, with an 
atmosphere lite ours, would be about the same 

9 



130 GOD AS DECLAEED BY THE HEAVENS. 

as that of the earth ; but as it has no perceptible 
atmosphere, and as its day is the length of our 
month, its climate must be very unlike ours. Its 
mean distance from the earth is 240,000 miles, 
or about 90,000,000 miles from the sun. 
8. Notwithstanding the immense difference be- 
tween the size of the earth and sun, yet, on ac- 
count of the difference in distance, the former 
attracts the moon as three to one. This is a 
sufficient reason why the earth is the immediate 
center of attraction to the moon, 

4. Since all vegetable deposits of any planet 
are extractions of its atmosphere and water, it 
follows that one, or both, will sometime become 
exhausted, unless renewed from another body. 
Time has long since denuded our moon of its 
atmosphere. Henceforth it must float a seared 
and desolate waste. But what it has lost in 
fertility we have gained in light, as this is much 
increased in the absence of an atmosphere. 

5. It is not altogether improbable that during 
some period of its millions of year's revolving, it 
may have borne upon its face a race of sentient 
beings, who tilled . the field, and reared the 
temple to the praise of the great Jehovah. 

6. By the power of gravitation alone, the moon 
would tend directly toward the center of the 
earth. This power, for distinction, is called its 
centripetal force. But we find another power, 
called centrifugal, tending, at every point of 



GOD AS DECLARED BY THE HEAVENS. 131 

its orbit, to carry the moon away in a straight 
line. 

7. The two forces, acting iv^on the planet at 
different angles, cause a resultant motion in a 
circle. The known laws of matter only partially 
account for one of these powers. The centrif- 
ugal force must have been communicated to the 
moon from a source, outside of nature's laws. 
That great source of power is God. 

8. Nor is the power of gravitation any less his, 
though given to matter, and now seen as a 
secondary cause. Gravitation is universal, and 
acts instantaneously. It requires no time to 
affect all parts of the universe of God. That 
which is true of our moon is essentially true of 
all the planets and suns of this stupendous uni- 
verse, only the same principles are applied upon 
a larger scale. 

9. The moon, in connection with our earth and 
the sun, is God's great time-table given to man. 
Not the least important, for this purpose, are 
the eclipses of the sun and moon. By this 
means the records of Nineveh, Babylon, Jerusa- 
lem and Borne, have been deciphered, and other- 
wise imperfect dates corrected, or established. 

10. As our views of the heavens enlarge so do 
our ideas of God's sovereignty, power and in- 
finity. The immensity of the heavens can better 
be conceived, by first counting volumes and 
distances which we can comprehend, and then 



132 GOD AS DECLAEED BY THE HEAVENS. 

proceeding outward, toward those, which ap- 
pear to our finite minds, to border upon the 
infinite. 

11. The size of some of the heavenly orbs far 
exceed the greatest conceptions of the human 
mind. The diameter of our own sun is 885,680 
miles. If it were placed in the situation of the 
earth, it would fill space for over 200,000 miles 
beyond the orbit of our moon. A neighboring 
sun, called by us Sirius, or the dog-star, oc- 
cupies seventeen times as much space. Such 
magnitudes exceed all efforts at conception ; yet, 
from the analogy of centers, the great central 
sun must exceed the aggregate of all suns, with 
their retinue of planets, taken together. 

12. Distance in space is still harder to grasp. 
We can only begin to comprehend it as we pause 
at certain long intervals, and look back over the 
distance passed in the mind. 

13. Commencing at the grand center of gravi- 
tation, heat, and light of our own system, the , 
mind quickly traverses twenty -nine million of 
miles to Mercury, in the perihelion of its orbit. 

14. Its light and heat are seven times that of 
our own. Hence, in the warm Zone, upon this 
planet, the atmosphere being the same as here, 
the mercury would rise to eight hundred degrees 
in the shade. Still, the circumstances under a 
different atmosphere, causing unlike radiation, 
may be so great, as to allow beings, as sensitive 



GOD AS DECLARED BY THE HEAVENS. 133 

as our own race, to share their probation upon 
its surface. Its day is about the same length 
as ours, while the year is but one-fourth of our 
own. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is said of the heavens? 
What quotation is given? Ps. 19: 1. 
What does motion imply? 

To what are we to apply it ? 
Where shall we commence ? 

2. What is the period of the moon's revolution? 
What is said of its heat ? 

Has it an atmosphere ? 

How far distant from the earth ? 

How far from the sun ? 

3. What is said of the earth's attraction? 
What effect follows this cause ? 

How do size and density affect gravitation? * 
How is it inversely affected by distance ? * 

4. From whence do the deposits of vegetation 
come ? 

What must follow ? 

What remark is made ? 

How do we profit by its loss ? 

5. What supposition is thought not improb- 
able? 



134 GOD AS DECLARED BY THE HEAVENS. ' 

6. Which way would gravitation carry the 
moon? 

"What is this power called ? 
What else do we find ? 
Which way does it tend? 

7. How do the two forces act? 
What results ? 

What is said of the laws of matter? 
From whence came the centrifugal force? 
What is its source? 

8. What is said of gravitation? 
How extended is gravitation? 
How does it act ? 

What of its effect ? 
What remark is made ? 

9. What incidental advantage is derived from 
the sun and moon ? — Gen. 1 : 14. 

What phenomena greatly assists ? 
What records have they corrected ? 

10. What is the effect, of the study of the 
heavens ? 

What order should we observe? 

11. What is said of the size of orbs? 
What is the diameter of the sun? 

Placed in the earth's situation, how far would 
it extend? 

How much larger is Sirius? 

What remark is made ? 

From analogy, what must be true ? 



GOD AS DECLARED BY THE HEAVENS. 



135 



12. What is still more difficult to understand ? 
How should we proceed ? 

13. Where shall we commence ? 
What is the center of our system ? * 
How far to Mercury ? 

14. How intense is Mercury's light? 
What follows ? 

What mitigating circumstances exist ? 
' How long is its day ? 
What is the length of its year ? 
At what rate does it travel ? 
Ans. 109,000 miles per hour. 



-<GQ€¥Ws> 



GOD AS DECLARED BY THE HEAVENS. 



LESSON XXII. 



" Whither shall I flee from thy presence ? If I ascend up 
into the heavens, thou art there ; if I make my bed in hell, 
behold, thou art there : if I take the wings of the morning, 
and dwell in the utmost parts of the sea ; even there shall 
thy hand lead me." Psalm 139 : 10. 



1. The last lesson closed with, th^ reflections 
upon Mercury. At a distance of 68,000,000 
miles from the sun we find, by far, the most / 
brilliant planet of our system. Venus is about 
the size of the earth, but enjoys twice the light 
and heat. Although, with the exception of the 
moon, it comes the nearest to the earth, yet its 
glaring light prevents its being well known. Its 
year is only two-thirds of ours, while the length 
of its day is similar to our own. 

2. The third planet, of oar system, is called 
Earth. This, being for the present, our home, 



GOD AS DECLARED BY THE HEAVENS. 137 

we know more about the minutiae of its arrange- 
ments. The law of adaptation, found here, is 
supposed to be an index of what has been 
enacted on all others. We find the productive 
powers of vegetation, and of animals, adapted 
to the annual revolutions of the earth. We find 
the bones and muscles, of earth's inhabitants, 
adapted to the gravitation, they must support. 
We have a right to reason by analogy, to the 
same arrangement on each, and all of the other 
planets . 

3. Mars is the fourth in the series. It is 145,- 
000,000 miles distant from the sun. Its day is 
not unlike our own in length. It receives less 
than one-half the light and heat of our planet. 

4. Leaving Mars, we encounter a vast space, in 
which is found a great number of fragments of 
worlds, revolving at different distances. These 
asteroids are supposed to be parts of some vast 
planet, once situated about 225,000,000 miles 
from the sun. We must wait for the unfolding 
of the spirit land, to learn the cause of its dis- 
memberment. 

5. Jupiter is over 1300 times as large as the 
earth, flying in an orbit that is 990,000,000 miles 
in diameter. Its rotary motion at the equator 
is 28,000 miles per hour. It carries along with 
it four resplendent moons. Its year would 
include twelve of our own, but the day is less 
than ten hours. 



138 GOD AS DECLAKED BY THE HEAVENS. " 

6. Light and heat there, are only one twenty- 
fifth part of that enjoyed here. Unless its own 
body is semi-luminous, and a producer of heat, 
we cannot see how it can be inhabited. That it 
is a semi-sun, has long since been suggested ; 
and when we reflect upon its brilliancy, at such 
an immense distance from our sun, it becomes 
somewhat reasonable. If this theory is true, we 
should expect to find all planets beyond, corres- 
ponding, in this particular, and their moons only 
capable of being inhabited. Jupiter's moons 
present a wider sphere for habitation than is 
found upon the earth. Hence, with the com- 
pensating light of their primary planet, their 
remote situation in the heavens, is no disad- 
vantage to them. 

7. The supposition of being semi-luminous is 
still more reasonable in the case of Saturn. 
This splendid planet revolves at the mean dis- 
tance of 906,000,000 miles from the sun. The 
light from the sun is only one ninetieth part as 
much as ours. Its bulk is 1100 times that of 
the earth. It revolves on its axis once in ten 
hours. Around this body, and far up in the 
heavens, revolve two brilliant rings ; and. outside 
of all revolve eight beautiful moons. The orbit 
of the outermost moon is 5,000,000 miles. Here 
we have a miniature world. * Our sun, beheld 
from these moons, would look like a star, but 
little above the brightness of Venus, as beheld 
from the earth. 



GOD AS DECLARED BY THE HEAVENS. 139 

9. One revolution of Saturn equals nearly 
thirty of the earth's. Until Dr. Herschel's time 
this was the frontier planet known. We are 
already contemplating a border, whose diameter 
is 1,900,000,000 miles. By means of a powerful 
glass, the light of a planet, twice as far distant, 
having six moons, was gathered up, and its orbit 
denned. This is called Herschel, or Uranus. 
It takes eighty-four of onr years to revolve in its 
orbit . 

10. In the satellites of Uranus, we have an 
illustration of the fact that the courses of the plan- 
ets are not all in the same direction. They are 
reversed in this case. The position of the axes 
of planets bear no uniform relation to the eclip- 
tic Some are inclined, some are perpendicular. 
There is nothing in the law of . gravitation to 
prevent their having any inclination, or being 
changed at any time. The axillary motions of 
planets are regulated by the currents of elec- 
tricity, peculiar to them. When these change, 
the poles may change. 

11. Science, in the subtle deductions of its own 
reasonings, finally pointed to the probable exist- 
ence of another planet, whose orbit is still twice 
as large as that of Uranus, being not less than 
5,700,000,000 miles. It would take one hundred 
and sixty -four of our years, to make one there. 
Such distances are too vast for the mind to grasp; 
yet this complicated machinery is but one of the 



140 GOD AS DECLAKED BY THE HEAVENS. 

countless systems, indicated by those twinkling 
orbs known, with reference to our system, as 
fixed stars. 

12. Matter revolves by systems. Suns, in their 
onward march, carry with them the matter be- 
longing to their respective spheres. All matter 
forming distinct globes, must rotate, to be held 
in equilibrium. Together, they are all revolving 
about some grand center. None are tardy the 
thousandth part of a second, none get ahead of 
their time. 

13. Light travels at the rate of two hundred 
thousand miles per second. At this rate it would 
take fourteen minutes to cross the orbit of the 
earth, eight hours to cross that of Neptune, three 
years and six months to reach the nearest fixed 
star ; but to cross to us from some of the remot- 
est nebulae, already discovered, light must have 
been on its way for millions of years. 

14. Emphatically the author of their being, 
and guide of their motions must be incomparably 
great. "He telleth the number of stars ; and 
calleth them all by their names." "Great is our 
Lord, and of great power. His understanding 
is infinite." Truly •' ' The Lord God omnipotent 
r eigne th." 

15. This is a sublime pathway to travel, filling 
us with awe and wonder, but yielding nothing by 
which a lost sinner may confidently hope. In 
the sense of Saviour, the heavens "cannot con- 



GOD AS DECLAKED BY THE HEAVENS. 141 

tain him." "Lo, I come ; in the volume of the 
book it is written of me." 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What was the close of the last lesson-? 
What is the name of the second planet ? 
How far is it from the sun ? 

W 7 hat is said of it ? 

How does it compare with the earth ? 

Why is it not well known? 

How long is its year ? 

What is said of its day ? 

2. W 7 hat is the name of the third planet ? 
What remark is made ? 

What is said of adaptation ? 

To what are productive powers adapted ? 

What physiological adaptation ? 

To what reasoning may this lead? 

3. Mention the fourth in the system ? 
How far is this from the sun ? 
What is the length of its year ? 
What of the day ? 

What is the quantity of heat and light ? 

4. What do we find beyond Mars ? 
What is found here ? 

What are they supposed to be ? 
What was its supposed distance ? 
What cannot we expect to know here ? 

5. W r hat is the comparative size of Jupiter ? 



142 GOD AS DECLARED BY THE HEAVENS. 

How large is the diameter of its orbit ? 
How fast does it rotate at the equator ? 
What accompanies it ? 
How long is its year ? 
Its day ? 

6. How great is its light ? 
What may this large body be ? 

Unless its heat exceeds that derived from the 
sun, what should we conclude? 

What would render it probable ? 

What deduction may be drawn ? 

What amount of surface has its moons for 
habitation ? 

What remark is made ? 

7. Where does the hypothesis gain additional 
weight ? 

How far from the sun ? 

How much light does it derive from the sun ? 

How large is it ? 

8. How long is its day ? 
What accompanies it ? 
How wide is the outer orbit ? 
What do we have here ? 

How would the sun look from these moons ? 

9. What is the length of its year ? 

What was this planet until Herschel's time ? 
What is the diameter of Saturn's orbit ? 
What led to the discovery of another? 
What is its relative distance ? 
How many moons ? 



GOD AS DECLARED BY THE HEAVENS. 143 

What two names has this planet ? 
How long is its year ? 

10. What is said of Uranus' satellites ? 
What of the axes of planets ? 

How is the axillary motion of a planet caused? 
What effect would a change of these currents 
have ? 

11. What great achievement of science is given? 
What is the diameter of its orbit ? 

How long is its year ? 
What remark is made ? 
12 How does matter revolve ? 

What does each sun carry in its course ? 
How is matter held in equilibrium ? 
What remark is made ? 

13. At what rate does light travel ? 

How long wo aid it take light to cross the orbit 
of the earth? 

The orbit of Neptune ? 

To cross to the nearest fixed star ? 

To come to us from some remote nebulae ? 

14. What remark is made ? 
Repeat Ps. 147:4. 
Also, the fifth verse. 
How readeth Rev. 19:6? 

15. What is said of this study ? 
What is still lacking ? 

What quotation is made ? Ps. 40: 7. 



THE STUDY OF GOD AS KEVEALED. 



LESSON XXIII. 



" God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must wor- 
ship him in spirit and in truth." John 4 : 24. 



1. The human mind is adapted to order and 
system. System shortens the distance, and 
lessens the toil to mental victory. 
2„ God is revealed to us according to system. 
He possesses a large class of attributes which we 
now fmd are suggested in nature. He also pos- 
sesses qualities, feelings, resources which are 
known only by special revelation, and are sup- 
plemented to our knowledge of him in nature. 
3. In studying the revealed character of God, it 
is essential to observe the same order as that in 
which he made himself known to the world. 



THE STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED. 145 

4. The leading idea, running down through all 
manifestations of Deity, is, that God is one. 

5. In the gospel, God is manifested as Father, 
Son and Holy Spirit. Here are distinct mani- 
festations, holding corresponding relations to the 
human soul, yet they are one. 

6. To ignore God's order in being made known, 
and to begin the study with the three-fold mani- 
festation, is as unnatural as an attempt to pursue 
geometry backwards. The student is too apt to 
get before his imagination three distinct and 
separate beings. This view becomes so vivid, 
that the after declaration of God's oneness, 
makes but little impression upon his pre-occupied 
conception. 

7. God's method is so well calculated to im- 
press the soul with the conception of one God, 
and completeness in him, that however distinct 
and apparently separate his manifestations may 
be, numerous his names, or diver sified his action 
in law, or in grace, still he can never appear 
other than one. 

8. It is manifestly certain that all we know of 
God, beyond the suggestions of nature, must 
come by revelation. 

9. Nature's suggestions are designedly in 
accordance with a system of law-keeping, but 
not of law-breaking. 

10. We must therefore derive our knowledge of 
God as Father, Redeemer and Comforter, from 

10 



146 THE STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED. 

the Bible, whose inspired pages best indicate 
the truths, and the order of their reception. 



QUESTIONS. 

What is God? John 4: 24. 
Is the study of God, in his own nature, 
abstract or concrete ?* 

1. What greatly assists the understanding in 
grasping abstract and difficult subjects ? 

Do we enter upon this study with any prospect 
of fully comprehending God ?* Job 11 : 7, 8. 
Can we grasp any one of his attributes ? 

2. Where do we find a large class of God's 
attributes suggested ? 

What more has revelation given ?* 
What is the relation of the special, to the 
natural ? 

3. What order should be made our guide in 
this study ? 

4. What is the leading idea in the study of 
Deity? Deut. 4: 39. 

Can any after revelation contradict this 
thought?* 

Can any other ever lead this thought ?* 

5. How is God manifested in the Gospel ? 

Is there a personal distinctness in each of 
these relations? 

6. What is the result in the attempt to teach 
the manifestations of God backward? 



THE STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED. 147 

With a backward approach to God, is it easy 
to preserve his unity ? 

7. From whence came the remedial system?* 
John 3: 16. 

How many distinct manifestations of himself 
has God made to the descendants of Adam?* 

To what other beings do the Scriptures speak 
of his being manifested ?* 1 Tim. 3: 16. 
. Pursuing the Divine manifestations, as opened 
to the world, are we apt to disconnect either 
from God? 

8. Upon what are we dependent for the knowl- 
edge of God ? 

Without this revelation, would nature suggest 
what it now does ?* 

9. ' What system is designedly maintained in 
nature ? 

Can both law and grace be maintained in the 
same statute ?* 

10. What is the text book for the knowledge of 
God? 

Do the Scriptures speak of Christ as God ? 
John 14:9. 

' How are the three spoken of together? 
John 5: 7. 



THE STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED 
IN NAME. 



LESSON XXIV. 



" In all places, where I record my name, I will come unto 
thee, and will bleSvS thee."— Ex. 20:24. 



1. Names are call-words for ideas. When 
given by man, their signification is quite limited; 
but when brought forward by inspiration they 
often contain very extensive, and sometimes, 
unutterable meanings. Such were the. names of 
God, as revealed to his prophets. 

2. The first names of God known, seem to have 
been given to meet the theological wants of the 
people, during the infancy and childhood of the 
race. They were adapted to their varied states 
of progress, during those rude ages. We note 



STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN NAME. 149 

a progressive enlargement, in these unfolding 
names, leading the mightiest intellects of the 
times; and tending to that fullness of God, to be 
revealed in Jesus Christ. 

3. No name of God, once given, has ever gone 
out of use. "When new ones were revealed, 
those formerly known, became attachments to the 
new. This was done either by prefixing, suffix- 
ing, or by compounding with the same. The word 
Jehovah, not revealed till twenty-five hundred 
years after Adam's creation, is found in the 
account given of the formation of light. ' 

4. We have very good reason to believe that 
the first name, by which the Creator was known 
to man, was El— God. Cause and effect are the 
leadiug characteristics for thought, throughout 
the inorganic kingdom. In the organic portions 
of nature, cause and effect are prominent, until 
you reach mind in man. Henceforth, the so- 
called moral attributes of God have a partial 
representation in nature. Miud says by nature, 
of El, "Justice and judgement are the habita- 
tion of my throne ;" "Goodness," in the sense 
of adaptation, " shall follow me all the days of 
my life." 

5. This name was full of majesty ; but con- 
tained no suggestion of redemption ; no intima- 
tion that anything organic, once dead, can ever 
live again. It contained nothing upon which a 
spiritual resurrection, even in figure, could be 



150 STUDY OF GOD AS BEVEALED IN NAME. 

predicated. While man remained pure he needed 
no other suggestions of God than were found 
in this name ; and for the grandest purposes of 
mere law-keeping, it was better that no other 
meaning should be attached to the name of his 
God. 

6. But sin brought the realization, in figure, to 
man, that a pursuing angel was behind him, with 
a double edged sword, in justice, forbidding the 
soul to go backward to its state of innocency, 
and rendering the future less hopeful, by a de- 
crease of will-power over evil. Now the name 
of God must contain other moral attributes than 
justice, coupled with the goodness of adaptation; 
and still, these must not be omitted. - 

7. Before this work could be well done, an 
intermediate evil, springing up through sin, 
must be removed. This was the evil of idolatry. 
The history and character of false gods have ever 
been adapted to man's passions and appetites. 
Hence, the strong hold, which these have upon 
the depraved and ignorant of every land. 

8. The more enlightened, of the present age, 
despise idolatry in form, but some yet degrade 
the idea of the true God, to the level of their 
passions and wicked feelings.. These often be- 
come idolatrous, without' bowing to visible idols. 

9. When man first turned his heart to idolatry, 
God brought forward definitions of his being 
and character, that plainly contrasted with false 



STUDY OF GOD AS KEVEALED IN NAME. 151 

gods. A suffix was added to El, which signified 
the only true God. This, by contrast, placed the 
names of all other gods upon the false list. 
This name now became Eloha. 

10. In the Hebrew language emphasis and par- 
excellence were added to a name, by writing it 
in the plural. Hence Eloha was written in the 
plural Eloheim. He is the' only true God, most 
excellent. 

11. This is the first recorded name in the Bible; 
but along with this name is Jehovah, first spelled 
out to Abraham, but its fullness of meaning 
was reserved to be revealed from the burning 
bush. 

12. 'We can account for this on the same 
grounds that Paul saw fit to associate the name 
of Christ with the smitten rock in the wilder- 
ness. The same that enabled John to ascribe to 
the revealed Word the creation of the world. 
The principle of mercy is one, whether seen by 
means of shadow or substance ; so is the prin- 
ciple of the Godhead, whether seen throug h one 
or many names. 

13. The most significant name of God, in Abra- 
ham's time, was El-Shaddi — God Almighty. 
This name, gloriously contrasted with the names 
of the so-called gods, who were born, conquered, 
imprisoned or 'slain, within the memory of man. 

14. Up to this time, and for many years after, 
the theological contest was principally confined 



152 STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN NAME. 

between Monotheism and Polytheism. Hence 
we have these names in order to set forth the 
contrasting characteristics of the true God, as 
opposed to the false. 



QUESTIONS . 

1. What are names ? 

What of the names given by man ? 
When given by God? 
What does Paul say?* 2 Cor. 12: 4. 
If lawful, has man vocal powers, with which to 
utter the fullness of Divinity ? * 

To whom were these names revealed? 

2. What seems to have been the purpose of the 
first? 

To what were they adapted ? . 
What do we note in these names ? 
To what did they tend ? 

3. Do-fcliese name? bacaon obsolete? 
Ho w were they used ? 

Wlien was the term Jehovah revealed ? 
Where do we find it ? 

4. What was the first name of God ? 
What was its import? 

What; is the leading thought suggested in the 
organic kingdom of nature ? 



STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN NAME. 153 

What is the difference between organic and 
inorganic ? * 

Do not the laws of sequence suggest God in 
the organic ? 

What more of God, can we see through the re- 
lations of mind to matter ? 

What does mind see by nature ? 

Eead from Psalm 89 : 14. 
■ What assurance of faith does nature give ? * 
Psalm 23: 6. 

5. What is the predominate feeling, as we con- 
template God in nature ? 

Which covenant is not shown there ? 
What farther remark ? 

What leading' principle of the gospel finds no 
support there ? 

How was this name adapted to the race in its 
purity ? 

Why were not all the attributes of God con- 
tained therein ? 

Would generous clemency, embodied in the 
statute, give additional weight to law ? * 

6. What did sin bring ? 

What must the name of God now contain ? 

7. What must be removed? 
What is the name of this evil ? 
To what are false gods adapted? 
What is the result ? 



154 STUDY OF GOD AS BEVEALED IN NAME. 

8. As we become enlightened, what become of 
these? 

What have some done with the name of the 
true God ? 

What does man do, when he makes his own 
feelings the measure of Jehovah's ? 

May not the noblest of Imman feelings check 
us, in ascribing false attributes to God ?* 

9. How did God visit the first tendency to idola- 
try? 

What was added to El ? 
What does it signify ? 
What by contrast ? 
What was this name ? 

10. Mention a mode of Hebrew emphasis ? 

In what number would pronouns, referring to 
such names, have to be written ? * 
What is the plural here ? 
What is the meaning ? 

11. What is said of this name ? 
What other name is with it ? 

To whom first uttered?* Gen. 22: 14. 
Where was its meaning revealed ? * Ex. 3 : 4. 



12. How can we account for the record in Gen- 
esis ? 

What is the principle of mercy ? 

What does Paul say of Christ in the wilder- 
ness?* ICor. 10:4. 



STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN NAME. 155 

What is the principle of the Godhead ? 

13. What was the most emphatic name of. God, 
in Abraham's time ? 

What did it signify ? 

Were not all these qualities and feelings inhe- 
rent in God, before matter existed?* Heb. 4:3. 
With what did El-Shaddi gloriously contrast ? 

14. What was the theological controversy ? 
What merciful intention do we see in these 

names ? 

Are they not in themselves law-covenant 
names ? * 



(Sx^^O 



^-^O 



THE STUDY OF GOD AS KEVEALED 

IN NAME. 

LESSON XXV. 



"And they shall say to me, what is his name? What 
shall I say unto them ! This shalt thou say unto the chil- 
dren of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you ?" Ex. 3: 13, 14. 



1. God lias giver man two general, moral cov- 
enants, viz : the old, or covenant of law, and 
the new, or covenant of grace. 

2. The names hitherto explained were law-cov- 
enant terms. In them were found no knowledge 
of that soul-restoring, sin-pardoning tenderness, 
that seeks to redeem and save the lost. 

3. The first name given in the Old Testament, 
clearly embodying new covenant principles, was 
Yehovah — pronounced Jehovah. This was given 
to Moses in Horeb, four hundred years after the 
prophecy by Abraham, that it should be seen in 
the mount. 



STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN NAME. 157 

4. The circumstances, attending the giving of 
this name, were the most impressive ; and the 
effect upon Moses and the nation most signal. 

5. Abraham, without knowing its full meaning, 
was permitted to record this name, and see in it, 
that his seed should be a blessing to all nations. 
"He saith not unto seeds, as of many, bat to 
thy seed, which is Christ." The promised Mes- 
siah was thus seen by Abraham. Christ said, 
"Abraham saw my day and rejoiced." 

6. Another part of its meaning was given 
to Moses, prior to giving the name, viz : "I AM 
the God of your fathers." Our Saviour, com- 
menting upon this circumstance, said, that the 
definition clearly indicated the resurrection. 

7. Having these definitions Moses asked for 
the name. God gave the name from the root 
Hayah— to be. "I AM that I AM." This 
term clearly indicates God's Eternity, or that 
God is not relative in age ; or as was afterwards 
expressed, "The same yesterday, to-day, and 
forever." Probably, for the first time in man's 
history, it dawned upon the world, that a thou- 
sand years added nothing to the duration of God. 

8. This was the unmentionable name of Jewish 
history, henceforth, to be associated with all 
other names previously given of Deity, but to 
be spoken by none. 

9 The usual substitute for the name in speak- 
ing, and often in translating, was Adonai — Lord. 



158 STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN NAME. 

10. From the awe, inspired by this name, as 
well as its frequent occurrence, we are quite cer- 
tain that much of its meaning has been lost to 
the world. We only know what has been alluded 
to in sacred comments. 

11. After the days of Solomon the terms Me- 
leck, king, and Adonai, Lord, were frequently 
employed for God. As though they were too 
insignificant by which to express the full truth of 
Deity, they added King of kings and Lord of 
lords. 

12. The name Messiah was very comprehensive, 
and can only be explained from the full covenant 
of the gospel. 

13. Isaiah gave him the name Immanuel — God 
with us. The fullness of this meaning could 
not be comprehended until the day of Pentecost . 
Paul wrote under this light. "And without 
controversy great is the mystery of godliness : 
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the 
Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gen- 
tiles, believed on in the world, received up into 
glory." 

14. Christ literally signifies the Anointed. 
Paul said this name, associated with the name 
Jesus, was above every name, that it should 
receive homage from all in heaven, in earth, or 
under the earth. 

15. This is God's new name, that shall outlive 
kings and kingdoms, emperors and empires. It 



STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN NAME. 159 

will survive the close of the sixth period, the 
passing away of heaven and earth, the wreck of 
matter and the crash of worlds. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. How many moral covenants has God given? 
What are they called? 

Can sinful man be saved by the first?* 
Kom. 3: 20. 

In what way may the sinless find life under 
it?* Eom. 10: o. 

In what respect is the first covenant retained 
in the new?* 1 John, 3:1. 

In what respect is it abrogated ?* Eom. 3: 24. 

2. With which covenant did the first names of 
God agree? 

Could new covenant principles be discovered 
in them? . 

Can heart communion be established, so long 
as the question of God's existence is unsettled ?"* 

3. What new covenant name was given to 
Moses ? 

Where was it given ? 

How long after Abraham's time ? 

What did Abraham say of it ? Gen. 22 : 14. 

4. What were the circumstances attending the 
giving of this name ?* Ex. 3: 4, 5. 



160 STUDY OF GOD AS KEVEALED IN NAME. 

How did the Jews regard this name ?* 
How did tlie vision affect Moses? Ex. 3: 6. 
What may be said of its effect upon the whole 
nation ? 

5. Did God spell out this name to Abraham? 
Did he reveal to him anything of its import? 
What did he see in it ? Gen. 28 : 18. 

What did Christ say he saw ? John 8 : 56. 

Do not such sacred comments show us, that, 
at this day, we are unable to understand all its 
meaning ?* 

6. What is said of another part of its meaning? 
What was our Saviour's comment upon this? 

Matt. 22: 32. Luke 20: 37. 

7. What did Moses ask for? 
From what root is this word ? 
What can we readily see in it? 
What is true if God is Eternal ? 

How is this sentiment afterwards expressed ? 

Would any number of years add anything to 
the duration of God ?* 

Would man, in the childhood of the race, be 
likely to know this ? 

8. Were the Jews accustomed to pronounce the 
name ? 

9. What was the substitute ? 

10. What leads us to .suspect that some of its 
meaning may have been lost? 

Do these names of God blend in unison ?* 
Wh ere ? 



STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN NAME. 161 

Do they assist us now, to better understand 
God's nature ?* 

11. By what other terms was God known? 
How did they intensify these terms ? 
Can any name fully reveal God ?* 

12. What is said of Messiah ? 

13. What other name did Isaiah give ? 
What is its meaning ? Matt. 1: 23. 

Where was the fullness of this expression 
seen? 

How does Paul speak of Christ? 1 Tim. 3: 16. 

14. What does Christ signify ? 
What does Paul say of this name? 

15. What is farther said of it ? 
What will it outlive ? 

In which name can you see the most of God?* 



11 



THE STUDY OF GOD AS KEVEALED IN 
EELATION. 



LESSON XXVI. 



" One God and one Father of all, who is above all, and in 
you all." Eph. 4: 16. 



1. A knowledge of relation forms a means of 
approach to the Infinite. The same being may 
hold varied relations to the same person. God 
holds many well defined relations to man. 

2. The first recognized relation of God to the 
world, was that of Creator. In such a' sense, he 
was, and is acknowledged the Father of all. 
The meaning of Father here, is the Inventor, 
Contriver or Creator." The Creative Father is 
revealed as supremely just, and as following 
cause to its legitimate results. It does not sug- 
gest the term Father in the family sense. 



STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN RELATION. 163 

3. Jacob, about to die, alluding to the incarna- 
tion, spoke of God as the Kesting-place of the 
soul. Contemplating the future history of 
Israel, the prophets' eye beheld the ark resting 
at Shiloh. He employed this term as a figure, 
to illustrate God's relation, in Christ, to weary 
souls. 

4. God holds, in his own right, the relation of 
Sovereign. After the government of Israel was 
changed to a kingdom, the relation of God's Sov- 
ereign supremacy was seen and felt. Through 
figures of government, terms, signifying this 
relation, abound in their poetry and history. 

5. God holds an Executive relation to the 
world. Intellectual and moral truths necessarily 
visit penalty upon the willful transgressor. 
Physical truth has been made analogous, only 
that it takes no cognizance of motives. All who 
violate physical law must expect punishment, 
whatever their intentions. 

6. The combination of man's wonderful nature 
is such, that in addition to penalty proper, there 
is a liability of a train of consequences, hanging 
over the IransgressOr, and nior>; or less depend- 
ent upon circumstances. 

7. Men often look for the speedy consequences, 
and because delayed, think the}' have escaped 
them. This led our Saviour to ask so often, 
"How can ye escape the damnation of hell?" 
As much as to say, though ye may not have 



164 STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN RELATION. 

visited speedily upon you the summary judg- 
ment of Sodom and Gomorrah, yet ye will not 
escape the penalty of sin, which is final condem- 
nation . 

8. Just where men think they have escaped the 
circumstantial consequences, they are often over- 
taken by the merited decisions of the great 
Executive of law. God is as present in all law, 
as in the planetary movements of the heavens. 

9. Hence the ancients made God the Author of 
all retributive effects, following the ignorance, 
or wickedness of men, or nations. Amos asked, 
" Shall there be evil in a city and the Lord hath 
not done it?" 

10. Many terms were brought forward by 
prophets, expressive of God's relation to man in 
the new covenant. Among the more forcible 
was that of Prince. Daniel speaks of Messiah, 
the Prince. Isaiah alluding to a son of promise, 
that should be born unto man, calk him Prince. 
With this Prince, he couples all the law covenant 
names of God. 

11. The term Prince, when thus used, naturally 
suggests the Royalty of Heaven, combined with 
flesh ; or what was afterwards more clearly 
expressed by the term ' ' God manifest in the 
flesh." 

12. The terms more commonly used to expiess 
God's relation as Redeemer were Messias — 
Christ and Saviour. The term Anointed was 



STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN RELATION. 165 

very expressive, though not as often used in the 
translations as some others. 

13. The One anointing is the One revealed. 
This manifestation with that of the Holy Spirit, 
is God in the Gospel. In the sense of Eedeemer 
he cannot be clearly seen by us, only through 
Jesus. Hence the term Eedeemer implies both 
God and man in one person. In the sense in 
which he is God, he is not human. So in the 
sense in which he is man, he is not God. 

14. As the term implies a double relation, it 
was essential to give this being two natures. It 
may be compared to a fountain and channel. The 
fountain is not the channel, but the fountain runs 
through the channel: The two make the river. 
Or we might illustrate by law and example. The 
example is not the law, but the law is seen 
through the example. 

15. Justice and mercy dwell inherently in God, 
but their embodiment for man's healing, and 
example is in the name Jesus. Hence this being 
holds to us the relations of the way, the truth and 
the life. The fountain for cleansing is grace, and 
the ideal life required is personified by his blood. 



QUESTIONS. 

1, What advantage, in looking at God through 
relation ? 

What is said of the same being? 

What of God ? 



166 STUDY OF GOD AS EEVEALED IN BELATION. 



2. What was the first ? 

What other term might express it ? 
What would be the meaning of Father here ? 
What are the revelations of this relation ? 
What does it not mean ? 

Confined to this knowledge, could sinful man 
cry Abba, Father?* Eom. 8: 15. 

3. What relation did Jacob give him ? Gen. 
49:10. 

Where, did the ark rest? Josh. 18: 1. 
Through whom is the term made intelligible ? 

4. What governmental relation is here seen ? 
When was it more fully seen ? 

What terms abound in their history and 
poetry ? 

In whose right is he King ? 

5. What other relation of God ? 

What is said of intellectual and moral truths ? 
Of physical truth ? 
How does it differ ? 

6. What is seen in addition to penalty ? 
Should we not distinguish between penalty and 

circumstantial consequences ?* 

7. What do men look for? 

When delayed, what do they think? 
How did Jesus meet it ? 
How is this interpreted ? . 

8. How do men find themselves mistaken? 
How is God present ? 

9. How did the ancients regard God ? 
What did Amos ask ? 



STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN RELATION. 167 

May not this be the key to explain many pas- 
sages, as the hardening of Pharaoh's heart ?* 

10. What other relations spoken of ? 
Mention one more forcible ? 
What prophecies are alluded to ? 
What does Isaiah couple with the term ? 

11. What is its meaning here ? 
How else expressed ? 

12. Wliat are the more common terms for 
Redeemer ? 

What is said of Anointed ? 

13. Who is the anointing one ? 

WTiat may be said of the one anointed ? 
WTiat do we understand by God in the gospel ? 
How is he seen as Redeemer ? 
What does Redeemer, therefore, imply ? 
W T hat is the distinction ? 

14. What was necessary ? 
To what compared ? 

To what again? 

What two things give us Christ ? 
Ans. God as revealed, and Jesus through 
whom revealed ? 

15. With whom dwell justice and mercy ? 
Where do we see. their embodiment ? 
What relation to us ? 

Under what term is grace represented in the 
Eucharist?* Luke 22 : 19 

Under what term is the ideal life ?* Luke 
22: 20. 



THE STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED 
IN RELATION. 



LESSON XXVII. 



u God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen 
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the 
world, received up into glory. — 1 Tim., 3: 16. 



1. God becomes a Saviour to fallen proba- 
tioners, wherever he reveals himself in accord- 
ance with the principles of the new covenant. 

2. These are essentially two, viz: the immuta- 
bility of God's law, as a rule of action ; and the 
grace of God as a source of dependence.- 

3. Reasoning a priori, an infinite God must 
possess ability to reveal himself in any capacity, 
needful for the bsnefit of his subjects. 

4. In the abstract essence of his own being, he 
cannot be seen, even by an angel. A medium, 
approaching more or less the finite, must be 



STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN RELATION. 169 

provided, through whom a finite being can 
approach the infinite. 

5. God may incarnate, or inspiritize himself, as 
shall best adapt his attributes to the beings, by 
whom he is about to be studied. I am com- 
pelled to coin the word inspiritize, to give, in 
this connection, the scriptural idea, or definition 
of " first begotten Son." 

6. As incarnate m Bans dwelling in, or shown 
through flesh, so inspiritize, means dwelling in, 
or shown through a spiritual form. God has 
done both. He was manifest to angels through 
spiritual form. He was made manifest to man 
through fleshly form. 

7. A high order of spiritual beings was created 
before matter. They are represented as singing 
at creation's birth, as "Sons of the Morning.'' 
Jehovah had previously provided for the ap- 
proach of these beings to himself, in worship 
and praise, through his only begotten Sou. 

8. The begetting of this bsing is the first 
recorded act of God, looking toward the exist- 
ence of subordinate intelligences. He spoke 
into existence a spiritual form, who, when 
developed and matured, should be endowed with 
His own nature, and henceforth act as God's 
prime minister to the contemplated universe. 

9. Analogy teaches us, that he gave him a pro- 
bation, which must have been alone. Proving 
himself worthy, God imparted his nature to 



170 STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN RELATION. 



him ; dwelt in and through him. He shall pos- 
sess all the attributes, and express the will pf 
God. In such a manifestation, that spiritual 
being must have been designated as "God mani- 
fest in spiritual form." In the essence of his 
Infinity, he is " The same yesterday, to-day, 
and forever." In reference to the spiritual form 
through which manifested, he was designated as 
the "first begotten Son." Hence, we present this 
clearly revealed manifestation of God, as God 
inspiritized. 

10. All things, then in contemplation, were 
given into his hand. He spoke into existence 
the angelic world. He created matter. He 
marshalled suns, and organized planets. He 
created man. Incarnating himself at the Jordan, 
in the man Jesus of Nazareth, he was "God 
manifest in flesh." In this light, he holds the 
relation to us of Saviour. 

11. There seems to have been a wide distinc- 
tion in the relations of God/ as seen through his 
inspiritized, and incarnate states ; even more 
than that of flesh, and spiritual form. No inti- 
mation is given that God held the relation of 
Saviour to the angels. That inspiritized mani- 
festation was a means of approach to God, in 
worship and praise, through law. 

12. We can conceive of God, incarnated among 
men for the same purpose. It is more than 
probable that the first Adam, had he proved 



STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN RELATION. 171 

loyal, would in time, have held such a position 
to the world. In such a manifestation, God 
would not have been a Saviour. Kedemption 
comes not from the fact of the incarnation, but 
because incarnated for a specified purpose. 
That purpose was to reveal the principles of the 
New covenant. 

13. It was evident that God was not dependent 
upon this, or any other form, or vehicle, through 
which, to manifest himself, for the Scriptures 
teach that Christ has been many times revealed 
through various means. 

14. Abraham saw Christ in the sacrifice of 
Isaac. Moses saw him in the bush. The chil- 
dren of Israel beheld him in the smitten rock. 
The three worthies in the form of the fourth. 
It is enough that God has chosen this way, to* 
make himself known unto us as a Saviour. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. To what class of beings may God become a 
Saviour ? 

What was necessary to do this ? 

2. What are these principles ? 

What did Christ say of law ? * Matt. 5: 18. 
What did Paul say of grace ?* Eph. 2: 5. 
In what sense is the law unchanged ? * 



172 STUDY OF GOD AS EEVEALED IN EELATION. 

Would perfect obedience to the law, through 
life, be rewarded with God's approval ? * Eom. 
10:5. 

Is it probable that any one can claim this ? * 
What then is your source of dependence ? 

3 . What is reasoning, a priori ? 

To what conclusion do you come ? 
What is God in the abstract of his being ? * 
John 4: 24. 

4. As such, can He be seen ? 

In what manifestation have you seen God 
mcst advantageously ?* 

What had to be provided for the approach of 
finite beings ? 
• Are angels finite ? * 

What are the two orders of intelligences 
known ? * 

How do they now differ in form ? * 

5. What is said of God ? 

In whom was God incarnate ?* 
To whom is reference made, by "God inspiri- 
tized ?" 



6. What does incarnate mean ? 

What does inspiritize ? 

Has God appeared thus ? 

What relation did the inspiritized form hold 
to angels?* Heb. 1: 6. 



STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN RELATION. 173 

What relation to the creation of matter?* 
John 1:3. 

Would an inspiritized God afford a means of 
approach for us V * 

7. Before what were angels created ? 
How are they represented '? 

What provision had been made for their wor- 
ship ? 

What do the Scriptures call him in heaven ? * 
Heb. 1:6. 

What did they call him on earth ? * Matt. 1 : 23. 

8. What order does he hold to all things ? 
What relation does he hold to the universe ? 

9. .What does analogy teach ? 
In what sense was he God ? 
How manifested ? 

How must this manifestation have been des- 
ignated ? 

What is said of his Infinity ? 
What of the spiritual form? 
Have we reason for the term inspiritize ? 

10. How extensive was his commission ?* Matt. 
11:27. 

What relation does he hold to angels ? 
What does he hold to matter ? 
What to matter organized? 
What to salvation ? 

11. What is said of these two ways of mani- 
festing himself ? 



174 STUDY OF GOD AS BEVEALED IN RELATION. 

Was he a Saviour to angels ? 

Through what was the manner of approach ? 

12. What is farther said of God? 
Would this render him a Saviour ? 

For what purpose was God incarnated in 
Jesus?* Matt. 1: 21. 

What was necessary to this purpose ? 

13. Was God dependent upon the form of flesh, 
for this manifestation ? 

How do we know this ? 

14. How did Abraham see Christ ? 
How did Moses ? 

How did the children of Israel ? 
How did the worthies ? 

What should satisfy us with our means of 
knowing God? 



<ftfi/S^5>^ 



THE STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED 
IN RELATION. 



LESSON XXVIII 



"David, therefore, calleth him Lord, how is he then his 
son?"— L-u. 20: 44. 



1. The family relation is the nearest and 
dearest, as well as the most lasting among men. 
By way of removing the immense distance 
between sinful man and himself, Jehovah 
assumes the family relation to man. 

2. Every step in tlie divine incarnation, from 
the conception of Jesus to the ascension of 
Christ, is progress towards perfecting this 
relation. 

3. From the claim of being the Father, in the 
creative sense, he alvances the offer to every 



176 STUDY OF GOD AS KEYEALED IN KELATION. 



soul conditionally, to extend the relation to the 
compassion of a father in the family sense. As 
a father he pities. Like a father he restores the 
lost to confidence and trust. By the spirit of 
adoption we cry Abba, Father. 

4. The name, Son of God, associated with that 
of Son of man, is designed to bring God and 
man into the nearest relation. Here we find the 
rule for action, the fountain for healing, and the 
approved pathway for the repentant. 

5. It is thus that God, in giving the endearing 
family names to the different stages of the 
unfolding of his character, has reduced all these 
manifestations to three classes, called by the 
familiar names of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

6. The manifestations of God in Nature, under 
the light of the gospel, are those of a Father, 
providing in a family sense. 

7. The manifestations of God in Grace, are 
called Son. This is a very appropriate figure of 
speech. The son proceeds from the father, 
bears his family name, inherits his nature, 
and heritage. So one manifestation proceeds 
from another — is the same in general name and 
nature, yet sufficiently distinct to need another 
name. 

8. The living presence of this combined showing 
is called Holy Ghost. It is given to the world 
as a monitor and a voice of warning ; but to 
Christians it becomes the guardian angel of 



STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN RELATION. 177 

their being. It is termed Holy Comforter. 
Thus, it is seen that under whatever name or 
relation manifested, El, Eloha, El-Shaddi, 
Jehovah, Father, Son or Holy Ghost, God is 
one. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. How does the family relation stand to all 
others? 

What advantage is gained by presenting God 
under this relation ? 

Are there not relations really existing between 
God and man, that may fitly be represented by 
all the family names ? * 

2. What relation is best suggested by the incar- 
nation ? 

How does God appear to us, as we trace the 
various phases of Christ's life? 

In our approach to God, as a father, can we 
dismiss the awe due to him as a Sovereign?* 

Is it an easy task to unite awe and familiarity 
in the same act ? * 

In what earthly friend of ours do these feelings 
naturally unite ?* 

3. What new meaning is extended to "Our 
Heavenly Father," in the gospel? 

What are God's feelings to us in our depen- 
dence ? 

What will he do for those who trust him ? 
By what other name is this relation expressed ? 
12 



178 STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED IN RELATION. 



How may this relation be claimed by us ? * 
Kom. 8:14-15. 

4. With what is the name " Son of God " asso- 
ciated ? 

AYhafc seems to be the design in this intimate 
association ?* 

What three indispensable things meet in this 
being ? 

5. To what distinctions, in God's manifestations, 
are the different family names given ? 

To how many classes are all these reduced ? 
What are they called ? 

6. To which class are the manifestations in 
nature applied ? 

By the light of the gospel, in what sense may 
the term father be used by all ? 

7. Where are the manifestations of grace 
classed ? 

Explain the appropriateness of the figure ? 
Does this answer Christ's questions to the 
Scribes?* Lu. 30:44. 

8. What is the spirit, giving the living presence 
of all God's revelations, called ? 

What relation does it hold to the world ? 
John 16: 8-11. 

What relation to Christians ? John 15 : 26. 

Is it evident to you all, that, however revealed, 
God is one ? 

What does the Holy Spirit offer to become to 
each of us? Kev. 22: 16. 



THE STUDY OF GOD AS KEVEALED 
IN PERSONALITIES. 



LESSON XXIX. 



"And I will pray .the Father, and he shall give you 
another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever, 
John U: 16. " 



1. The accepted meaning of the term person is 
a living intelligence. The only place in which it 
is used, as applied to God in the common trans- 
lation, is in Hebrews. Here it might be rendered 
him. or himself, showing that it is not used here 
differently from its common meaning. 

2. The form of oar word person, is from the 
Litin p3rsona ; but the common meaning of the 
word is derived from the French. A theological 
niBaniag has baen given to the word person, 
which might better be expressed by the word 
personality. 



180 STUDY OF GOD REVEALED IN PERSONALITIES" 

3. Personality, means the marked character- 
istics, distinguishing one person from another. 
Hence, when the same person possesses several 
sets of distinguishing characteristics, he may be 
said to possess several personalities in one 
person. 

4. Such would be a judge, called to give 
extreme sentence against his own child. He 
has one personality of father, identified with his 
child, and naturally seeking to exculpate him 
from all blame. He has another personality of 
judge, an officer, sworn to execute the law, on 
the platform of impartial justice. If he brings 
his personality of father to the bench, and uses 
his official position to shield his own son from 
merited punishment, which he would award to 
other men's sons, then, the people cry. out 
" unjust judge." 

5. Paul regards every man as possessing two 
personalities. The one, under the leadership of 
reason and conscience, sides with the law of God. 
The other, under the leadership of self and 
passion, sides with transgression. To these 
opposing personalities, he alternately applies the 
pronoun I. 

6. " For that which I do, I allow not; for what 
I would, that do I not ; but what I hate, 
that do I. If then I do that which I would not, 
I consent unto the law that it is good. Now it 
is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in 
me." 



STUDY OF GOD REVEALED IN PERSONALITIES. 181 

7. In connection with this thought, one person- 
ality is said to be dead, while the other is alive. 
The sinful personality is called the " old man." 
When this leads, the other is " dead in trespasses 
and in sins." The "resurrecting" of the dead 
personality, is called regeneration, because it 
kills the "old man" with his deeds; while it 
quickens the conscience under the law of God, 
which is now called the "new man, created in 
Christ Jesus. " 

8. We are not inclined to question the fact, 
that the doctrine of the Trinity, in the Godhead, 
has been fairly established, in the great battle 
fought by the Latin Fathers ; and judiciously 
settled, by the declaration of three personas in 
God. 

9. Certain relations in Deity are expressed, 
making it proper and necessary for Christ, in 
speaking of these relations in distinction, to use 
the personalpronouns I, thou, he. 

10. Bat as Bishop Whately has well remarked, 
in his treaties on logic, speaking of ambiguous 
terms, the Latin persona has a meaning some- 
what different from the English word person. 

11. "The meaning of the latter is of French 
origin, signifying a distinct being." "Persona," 
says Whately, "is Englished in our dictionaries 
by the state, quality or condition, whereby one 
man differs from another ; and so, as the condition 
alters, the person" (personality) "alters, though 
the man be the same ." 



182 STUDY OF GOD REVEALED IN PERSONALITIES. 

12. "The same man, if considered in other cir- 
cumstances, (considerably different) is reputed 
another person " (personality). 

13. "Thus the same man may at once sustain 
the person," (personality) "of a king and a 
father, if he be invested, both with royal and 
paternal authority." With this explanation, it 
will not be so difficult to ascertain the meaning, 
which the Fathers gave to the term personas, 
when applied to the Godhead, since they used it 
in the Latin sense. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is the general meaning of the term 
person ? 

Where in Scripture is it applied to God ? 

What other rendering might we give it ? 

Is there any peculiarity in its meaning here ? 

2. From what is the form of our word person 
derived ? 

What meaning attaches to it ? 

What peculiar meaning has been given, to 
it? ' 

What would be a better term, by which to 
express this meaning ? 

3. What is the meaning of this word ? 

Does a plurality of personalities necessarily 
imply a plurality of persons ? 

4. What illustration is given ? 



STUDY OF GOD REVEALED IN PERSONALITIES. 183 

What has he ? 
What does this seek ? 
What else has he? 
To what is this personality sworn ? 
What if he allows the Father to destroy the 
integrity of the Judge ? 

5. How does Paul regard all ? 
What is one distinction ? 
What the other? 

What does he apply to each ? 
Are we not conscious of possessing these 
opposing characteristics in nature ? * 

6. Kead the quotation ? 

Does he not here plainly speak of two person- 
alities in the same person ? * 

7. How is the thought again illustrated ? 
What is the sinful personality called ? 
When the old man leads, what results ? 
What is the resurrecting of the personality, 

dead in sin, called ? 

Why ? 

What is the resurrected personality called? 

Can there be any doubt about the use of these 
terms ? * 

8. What would we not call in question ? 
How did they settle this question ? 
What does the word Trinity mean ? 

Is there anything absurd in the word itself ? 

9. Why should more than oue personality be 
used, to express the person of Deity ? 



184 STUDY OF GOD REVEALED IN PERSONALITIES". 

Were all the relatiens of God to man expressed 
at once, or during successive ages ?* 

When was it necessary to use different pro- 
nouns ? 

Did he not at times blend them all in himself? 
John 4: 26; 10: 30, 36. 

10. Among what words did Bishop Whately 
place person ? 

What did he say of it, as compared with its 
parent term ? 
11 What of its meaning ? 

What of the meaning of persona ? 

12. What does he farther say ? 

Do we not see some persons, possessing such 
distinct characteristics, as to be anomolies?* 

13. How does he father illustrate the subject? 
Should we not gather from this language, that 

Whately believed in God's three-fold person- 
alities, expressed in the relations of one Being ?* 
Was he not reputed sound upon the Trinity?* 
How do these illustrations represent to us the 
meaning of the Fathers ? * 

From what book should we form our faith in 
Christ?* 



THE STUDY OF GOD AS KEVEALED 
IN PERSONALITIES. 



LESSON XXX. 

" For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, 
the Word and the Holy Ghost : and these three are one." 
1 John 5: 7. 



1. We will employ Whately's illustration, with 
an additional step to set forth a trinity of per- 
sonalities in the same person. Hence, in a 
somewhat corresponding sense, at least, so far 
as the finite, is analagous to the infinite, we will 
illustrate the three personalities in one God, 
called, by the Fathers, Trinity. " How different 
is the same man from himself, as he sustains the 
person of a* magistrate and that of a friend." — 
South. 

2. As sin involves the world in degredation 
and ignorance, so we will take for illustration, 
the degraded subject of a king. 

3. Here is f a man, who, from a child, has been 
a waif in society, not knowing father or mother, 
yet having some little idea of obligation to a 
distant king. He has fallen a victim to his 
vices, he must have help or perish. 



186 STUDY OF GOD KEVEALED IN PEKSONAUTIES. 

4. When all others had passed him by, there 
came one of smiling face and generous soul, who 
undertook and accomplished his healing. 

5. The stranger is now known in the person- 
ality of a healer and physician. Just here he 
announces, " I am your king." He is now known 
in two , distinct personalities. The world had 
arrived that far in their knowledge of God's per- 
sonalities, when Christ sat at Pilate's judg- 
ment bar. 

6. With these established, the royal physician 
is ready to complete the picture, by showing the 
restored man that he also holds to him the 
retlation of father. His happiness becomes un- 
bounded, as he henceforth beholds the three 
personalities in one person. The first held, was 
the last to be revealed, yet the sweetest of the 
three. "The first shall be last, and the last 
first." 

7. So with God and sin-destroyed man When 
all these vain systems, of philosophies, and false 
religions, had only mocked at man's spiritual 
wants, Jesus Christ became his physician. He 
immediately set up the claim of being man's 
Creator and Sovereign. Two personalities are 
distinct, a third is promised. 

8. The conception of the third personality could 
not be given, until the second called Priest, 
Prince, Physician, Word, Master, Son, should 
be taken from the earth. 



STUDY OF GOD KEVEALED IN PERSONALITIES. 187 

9. His distinctive office should be to take the 
things of the other two personalities, and make 
them a living presence to the soul. He is called 
Hoi j Spirit. 



QUESTIONS. 

1 . For what are we now about to use Whately's 
illustration ? 

What is the meaning of Trinity ?* 

What is the meaning of personality ?* 

What is the commonly accepted meaning of 

person ?* 

Which best accords with the Latin persona ?* 
What quotation is given illustrating a double 

personality ?* 

2. In what does sin involve the world ? 
Whom shall we select for illustration ? 

3. What was his character ? 
Of what was he ignorant ? 
Of what has he knowledge ? 

Does sin ever eradicate the full sense of obli- 
gation .* 

To what has he fallen ? 

What must he have or perish ? 

4. Can man's needed, moral, and spiritual help, 
come from man ?* 

Did our supposed waif find ready sympathy ? 
Who undertook his healing ? 

5. In what personality is the stranger known ? 



188 STUDY OF GOD REVEALED IN PERSONALITIES. 

By what analagous term was our Saviour 
known?* Luke 4: 18, 23. 

In how many personalities does our supposed 
person know his benefactor ? 

How many personalities of God had been 
clearly seen at the death of Christ? 

6. What other relation does the stranger show ? 
How many and what are the personalities 

now known? 

What effect has the last revealed ? 

What was the real order of this relation of 
Father? 

How does it compare with the rest ? 

7. What have philosophers and vain religions 
done for man ? 

Who became his healer ? 
What did he claim to be ? 
How many personalities meet in this claim ? 
What is said of the third ? 

8. What must take place before the conception 
of the third could be given ? John 16: 7. 

What are some of the names by which the 
second is known? 

9. What shall be the distinctive office of the 
third? 

Do you recognize the figure used, to be an 
appropriate one, by which to represent the 
Trinity?* 



THE STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED 
IN PERSONALITIES. 

LESSON XXXI. 



" Hovvbeit when he, the spirit of truth is come, he will guide 
you into all truth."— John 16: 13. 



1. The completion of God's personalities was to 
be in the giving of the Holy Spirit. He was to 
proceed from the Father, and bring with him all 
things concerning the Son, and make them living, 
acting, present realities to the soul. 

2. As soon as the Spirit's work is wrought 
within the soul, the personalities of God, corres- 
ponding with his relations, stand to the mind in 
this order, viz : Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

8. We are reminded that this illustration can 
only be in part, for the second personality of 
God, called the Son, or Mediator, connects with 
a human form, "made in all respects like unto 
his brethren," not only God as a Spirit, but the 
inspiritized form of God, as first begotten. 



190 STUDY OF GOD REVEALED IN PERSONALITIES. 

4. It is definitely set forth that angels were 
called to part with their inspiritized leader, for 
the purpose of incarnation, during the prophetic 
week; or, while Christ was being shown to 
Israel. The reason for this sacrifice on their 
part, may have been, that God intended that the 
whole universe should enter, with himself, into 
vicarious relations with man. Christ was, then, 
a sublime combination of the Spirit of God, of 
the First Begotten, and of man in his purity. 

5. For this wonderful combination, we have no 
similitude, no figure of representation. When 
all possibl eexplanations have been made, God- 
liness will remain a mystery, known, in full, only 
to God himself. 

6. We now observe, that the more we know of 
God, the greater seems the mystery connected 
with his being. 

7. We have good reason to believe that the 
mystery to angels is still greater, and constantly 
increasing. 

8. The study of God, accompanied with song, 
must form the majestic work of eternity. 

9. At present, we can only fall back upon the 
divine assurance, that the same God, seen of 
angels, was manifest in flesh, preached unto the 
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up 
into glory, and that the Holy Spirit, according 
to the promise, has been given, and is now in the 
world, to reform, comfort, and guide into all 
truth. 



STUDY OF GOD REVEALED IN PERSONALITIES. 191 
QUESTIONS. 

1. What was to complete the revelation of God's 
personalities ? 

From whom was he to proceed ? 

What double office was he to fulfill ? * John 
15:26. 

In the light of Christ's ascension from Mount 
Olivet, does heaven seem near, or far off?* 

In the light of the spirit's descent at the day of 
Peutecost, does Heaven appear far, or near?* 
Acts 2:2. 

2. What is the Spirit's work upon the soul?* 
Rom. 15:13, 16. 

What is the order of God's personalities to the 
believer? 

' By the agency of which personality, are the 
relations of the other two perceived ? John, 15: 
26. 

3. Can any figure illustrate the relations of 
Deity in full? 

Whom was the Son appointed to reveal ? Matt. 
11:27. 

Through what osteusible means was God 
revealed? 1 Tim. 3: 16. 

Was this means, in himself, a complete man ? 
Heb. 2:17. 

4. What sacrifice did the angels endure in 
giving to man a saviour ? John 1 : 14; Phil. 2 : 7. 

Where is it definitely set forth that the Son, 
in his inspiritized form, left the immediate pres- 



192 STUDY OF GOD EEVEALED IN PERSONALITIES. 

ence of angels, to take part in the incarnation ? 
Heb. 1:6. 

For how long a time ? Dan. 9 : 27. 

How long was the prophetic week ? Lev. 25 :8. 

What probable reason is suggested for this 
sacrifice ? 

With how many kinds of conscious existence 
did Jesus Christ stand connected? * Heb. 1:6 ; 
Tim. 3:16. 

5. Have we any figure by which to illustrate 
this threefold combination ? 

What will godliness ever remain ? . 

Who alone knows it in full ? Matt, 11 : 27. 

6. What do we now observe in ourselves ? 

7. How does this mystery probably stand to 
angels? 

8. What will, probably, constitute the work of 
eternity ? 

What accompaniment will all our researches 
have in heaven ? Rev. 5:9. 

9. On what must we now rely ? 

When w^as Christ's promise, to give the Spirit, 
verified? Acts 2:2. 

What is the Christian's evidence of the truth 
of these representations ? * 1 Cor. 2: 10 — 13. 

Until the work of the Spirit is wrought in the 
heart, upon what evidence must man rely ? * 2 
Thess. 1 : 10. 



THE STUDY OF GOD AS EEVEALED 
IN GOVERNMENT. 



LESSON XXXII. 



'" If any man say, I shall have peace though I walk in the 
imagination of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst, the 
Lord will not spare him."— Deut. 29: 19, 20. 



1. Government implies three things, viz : laws, 
subjects and executor. The divine government 
is unique, giving but little chance for ccmparkon 
with anything human. 

2. Every government is founded on seme basis, 
as a leading principle. Monarchies generally 
rest upon the "divine right of kings." 

3. Most of the eastern monarchies, with the 
Bcman government, rested upon biute force. 
The government of the United States rests upon 
the equality of man. 

13 



194 STUDY OF GOD BEVEALED IN GOVEBNMENT. 

4. The government of God rests upon inherent 
law, founded in eternal justice. Given, a rela- 
tion, and a law governs containing its own inher- 
ing penalty. The nature of God and law, in a 
sense, are inseparable. 

5. All the natural relations, revealed of God, 
to the world, are those of equity and justice. 
Hence, a priori, we should infer that his nature is 
the embodiment of the grand order of sequence. 

6. The executive agents of nature are the ele- 
ments ; such as wind, fire, water, light, electricity 
and gravitation. They never act without cause, 
but are implacable in pushing the effect from a 
given incentive. 

7. These are God's sub-agents. What these 
are to the senses, God must be to the untaught 
children of nature. 

8. Kevealed only by nature, or studied only by 
the light of nature, the great Executor of the 
universe implacably follows the legitimate tend- 
encies of law, 

9. God's voice, in nature, is obey and live, dis- 
obey and die. Mercy, having no position with 
God's sub-agents, is completely out of the ques- 
tion. 



QUESTIONS . 

1. What does government imply? 

What is said of the divine government ? 



STUDY OF GOD REVEALED IN GOVERNMENT. 195 

Can we closely compare it with those which 
are human ? 

2. What may be said of all government ? 
What do present monarchies rest on ? 

Has God given such right in the nature of 
man's being?* 

Under what circumstances did he give Israel 
a king?* 1 Sam. 12:19. 

3. Upon what did most of the eastern monarch- 
ies rest ? 

What is the foundation of the government of 
the United States ? 

When was man's religious equality first stated?* 
Acts 10:34. 

When was man's political equality first 
stated?* 

4. Upon what does the government of God 
rest? Ps. 89:14.- 

What accompanies every relation ? 
Can God violate the law of right ? 
If not, is it from the lack of power, or does 
his moral nature forbid ? * 

5. In accordance with what law are all the nat- 
ural relations of God ? 

What should we infer a priori ? 
What is the order of sequence ? * 
Ans. Effect follows cause. 

6. What are the executive agents of nature ? 
What do these follow ? 

What do they seem implacable to do ? 



196 STUDY OF GOD KEVEALED IN GOVEENMENT. 

7. What relation do the elements hold to God ? 
How would the winds do for an illustration of 

God's mercy, under violated law?* 

How would fire ? * 

How would water ? * 

Can any of the elements, acting under unre- 
strained law, suggest the restoring mercy of God.?* 

8. Confined to this manner of revelation, what 
would be our understanding of the great Execu- 
tor of law ? 

9 . What is God's voice in nature ? 
Do the sub-agents show mercy? 

Could man hope for God's mercy unless farther 
taught?* 

Does not the proposition to save man, show 
the necessity of a revealing Saviour ? * 



THE STUDY OF GOD AS KEVEALED 
IN GOYEKNMENT. 



LESSON XXXIII. 



And the government shall be upon his shoulder."— Isa. 



1. The principles of salvation through pardon, 
can never be successfully set forth in the face of 
God's sub-agents, until one, authorized to speak 
and act for God, shall show that mercj is a co- 
factor in the government of God. 

2. Jesus Christ, returning from the Jordan, was 
the anointed messenger of the covenant. He 
was sent, not only to set man an authentic exam- 
ple, but, also, to give a new governmental rela- 
tion of God to man. He succeeded in showing 
that justice and mercy are co-ordinate factors in 



198 STUDY OF GOD EEVEALED IN GOYEENMENT. 

the government of God. In Scriptural language 
they have "kissed each other." 

3. The manifestations of God in grace, which 
in the figure of the family are called Son, are for 
governmental purposes, called Mediator, or Ad- 
vocate. 

4. The term Mediator not only shows a revela- 
tion of God in a sense intermediate, but it also 
connects with it the man Jesus, as means, hold- 
ing an intermediate position between lost man 
and God. 

5. This intermediate showing of God, spans 
the chasm, between the manifestations of God, 
on the one hand, where justice is alone seen 
surrounding his throne, and sinful man on the 
other, guilty, and justly placed under condemna- 
tion, 

6. Jacob saw this in the form of an immense 
ladder. Job alludes to the revelation, as then ' 
not given, under the figure of the days-man, 
with one hand touching God the other man ; 
thus bridging the chasm and opening connec- 
tion between both. 

7. The Jews were instructed in sacrificial wor- 
ship, that they might see, by intervention of 
priests and prophets, when their motives were 
acceptable to God. 

8. The sacrifice of the scape-goat was felicitous 
in its manifestations. Completed, it seems to 



STUDY OF GOD BEVEAEED IN GOVEBNMENT. 199 

have performed a double office in figure viz : by 
showing the resurrecting power of the true sac- 
rifice, and the removal of sin to a land of forget- 
fulness. 



QUESTIONS. 



1. What must precede the conception of salva- 
tion through grace '? 

What is meant by co-factor ? * 

Had justice priority over mercy in time ?* 

Had justice any pre-eminence, as an integral 
principle in the feelings of God ? * 

Could this have been seen in the light of God's 
sub-agents ? * 

Was there not a difficulty in the way of the 
application of pardon ? * 

Was this difficulty with God, or with man?* 

Ans. with man. 

Was it not still more difficult to gain that state 
of heart, requisite for pardon ? * 

In the light of the gospel, is there any difficulty 
in God's using either, or both factors, as will 
best answer the law of righteousness ? * 

2. Had Jesus claimed to be God when he 
approached the Jordan for baptism ? * 

Did he claim it afterward ? John, 14: 9. 
What was he returning from Jordan ? 



200 STUDY OF GOD REVEALED IN GOVERNMENT. 

As a man, what did he do for his race ?* John, 
13:15. 

As God, what did he reveal ? 

Did he succeed to place justice and mercy 
before man in their true relation ? 

3. What are the manifestations of God, in grace, 
called in the figure of the family relation ? 

What in the governmental ? 

4. What attribute of God madiates between 
justice, as due, and justice finally applied ?* 

What does Mediator mean ? 

Did not the sinless life of Christ raise him above 
his fellows ? * 

Did not the term Mediator include the human 
nature in Christ?* 1 Tim. 2: 5. 

5. What have we seen existing between God 
and sinful man ? 

What spans the chasm ? 

Could a just man accept the offer of pardon, 
if in his own mind, the offer was made at the 
expense of justice ?* 

Could justice, as disclosed to man, demand a 
Saviour ? 

From what we now know of God, is it not 
evident that God acted as much from the prompt- 
ings of his own nature, in giving a Saviour, as 
when giving the law on Mfc. Sinai. 

6. In what form did Jacob see this Mediator ? 
What did Job call him? 



STUDY OF GOD REVEALED IN GOEVRNMENT. 201 

7. By what means, did the Jews see their way 
into the favor of their God ? 

Who acted as interpreters ? 

8. What was the sacrifice of the scape-goat ? 
Lev. 16:8, 10. 

What part did the second goat perform ? Lev. 
16: 21,22. 

What was the object of leading him to the 
wilderness ? 

Could such means of light compare with ours?* 



THE STUDY OF GOD AS BEVEALED 
IN GOVEBNMENT. 



LESSON XXXIV. 



"And not only so, but we also joy in God, through our 
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the 
atonement." — Rom. 5: 11. 



1. The mediate light, obtained from all other 
means, grows dim before the rising sun, in the 
person of Jesus Christ. 

2. He was the high priest of our profession, 
without a successor. Acting in his own right, 
he brought up the sinner without lowering the 
divine government. "God," as seen in him, 
"can be just, and the justiner of him that 
believeth in Jesus." 

3. The result of this showing, when cordially 
accepted, is called atonement, or the means of 
becoming at one with God. 



STUDY OF GOD REVEALED IN GOVERNMENT. 203 

4. Since the manifestation has been made 
before the face of all people, the atonement 
becomes universal in its provisions ; but, like all 
moral blessings, conditional in its application to 
the soul. 

5. Inasmuch as all we know of the Father's pity> 
or willingness to save, is by special revelation, 
we have no right to speculate upon governmental 
hypotheses beyond what is revealed. Nature, 
unaided, could never suggest the atonement, 
much less give the requisite light which con- 
stitutes mediation. 

6. Like the sunshine and rain, these blessings 
are freely given to all, and to an extent, they 
benefit all ; but they contain still more spiritual 
blessings, which can be applied only to the 
believer. 

7. This intermediate showing is only for the 
time being, and to probationers. Christ tells us 
that at the judgement, this shall all become sub- 
ject to the Father, and the approach to God will 
return, to what it was before the universe was 
formed. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is the favorite figure, by which God is 
known in the gospel? John, 1:9. 

What effect had the full light of the gospel, 
upon all other modes of showing the remedial 
system ? 



204 STUDY OF GOD REVEALED IN GOVERNMENT. 

At the time of Christ's death had this light 
been fully given?* 

Was it an easy task to show the early Jewish 
Christians, the sufficiency of Christ? Acts, 1:2. 

When did the daily sacrifice naturally cease ? 
Dan. 9:27. 

At what time after the crucifixion of Christ, 
might the whole Jewish nation have seen that 
their sacrificial offerings were ended ? Acts 2:36. 

2. What was Christ often called ? 

What relation did the high priest hold to his 
people ? 

In whose right did Christ act ? 

Upon what principle does he save ? 

What is the represented attitude of mercy to 
justice ? 

May not a sinful heait, in the light of the gos- 
pel, be so changed as to render it unjust to with- 
hold a pardon?* 

Could God justify you in disbelieving the 
Gospel?* 

3. What grand result is reached, when the 
manifestations of God are accepted ? 

In reconciling man to God, are the principles 
presented, such as are calculated to influence 
God, or man ? * 

4. How else does the gospel resemble the sun ? 
Are provisions made, for the salvation of all 

men?* Lu. 2:30, 31. 



STUDY OF GOD KEYEALED IN GOVEENMENT. 205 

Does the provision of any moral blessing secure 
it to any?* 

5. Where do we get our knowledge of the pity 
of God, and desire to save ? 

Is this all we know of the subject ? 

Have we a right to go beyond the record, in 
speculations of our own ? 

Could nature, unaided, suggest an atonement? 

What must be given to the world, before they 
can come to Jesus ? 

6. How else, like sunshine and rain, do these 
blessings reveal themselves?* 

Does not the gospel bring outward blessing to 
all classes ? 

What part of God's care, will ever be select 
and- conditional ? 

7. Is this intermediate showing designed to be 
perpetual ? 

To whom is it sent ? 

Have we any evidence, that departed spirits 
live in a remedial state?* 

Have we any information that they do not ? * 
Lu. 16:26. 

What grand changes will be made at the judg- 
ment ? 1 Cor. 15:28. 

Through whom was the approach to God, 
before man's existence ? Heb. 1:6. 



THE STUDY OF GOD AS REVEALED 
THROUGH GRACE. 



LESSON XXXV. 



" For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth 
came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; 
the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the leather, 
he hath declared him."— John 1: 17, 18. 



1. All good rules for human conduct must be 
legal in form. Grace or clemency, is no part of 
the standard of obligation. Moses was chiefly 
concerned for the rules and principles, that 
would give prosperity to his nation. He was 
not, however, a stranger to the grace of God. 
It was through this means, that he attained that 
honored distinction, as God's prophet and law- 
giver. 

2. The name, Jehovah, shown to. him upon 



STUDY OF GOD REVEALED THROUGH GRACE. 207 

Mount Horeb, is as full of grace, as when sound- 
ing from the lips of J esus. The sacrifices which 
looked to the cleansing from guilt, were founded 
upon revealed grace. Still the Jewish dispensa- 
tion was essentially one of law. 

3. The gospel covenant is essentially one of 
grace. The gospel includes all under sin. It 
presents the grace of G)d, as the only source of 
healing. It presents the law of God, as the 
only ideal standard of right. It presents the 
love of G)d, blending fountain and pattern in 
Christ Jesus, as the ideal standard of attain- 
ment. 

4. Christ declared that he had not come to do 
away with law, but that the law, through him, 
might be fulfilled. Still, law was not the chief 
object of his mission. When asked to arbitrate, 
he declined being judge. When asked to pass 
sentence upo a sinners, he announced that he 
came not to condemn the world, but that the 
world might have life. 

5. Christ proceeded upon the principle, that 
the demand for grace to be given the world, was 
abnormal, arising from a deranged moral condi- 
tion. It was a demand beyond the principles of 
nature, making it necessary to give knowledge of 
God, beyond what nature has given. 

6. The characteristic object of Christ's mission, 
was to declare that which was additionally needed 
to be known of God, in order to draw the guilty 



208 STUDY OF GOD REVEALED THROUGH GRACE." 

back to the bosom of the Father. Law had been 
well defined and explained. It was only needed 
in law, that one should embody the same in 
actual life. That Jesus might do this, he must 
be a model man, with human parts and pas- 
sions, tempted in all respects like unto man. 

7. In the discourses of Christ upon law and 
grace, taken in connection with the life he led, 
we have the basis of the covenant of the gospel. 
The law of God holds such a position in the 
human soul, that it cannot be ignored in the 
offer of pardon. Hence it was essential that the 
authorized messenger of grace should himself be 
a keeper of law. 

8. The study of God under the gospel, is not 
therefore adverse, but in addition, to what could 
be known of him in the light of law. " For 
what the law could not do" has been accom- 
plished by the union of the Holy Spirit with the 
man Jesus, thus giving us the Christ of the 
gospel. 

9. The additional side presented in the gospel 
is that of the clemency of the Executive, rather 
than the general rules, or basis of government, 
over which the Governor presides. An act of 
clemency argues neither against the fitness, or 
importance of law, but rather in favor of both. 

10. Clemency is no part of law. It is a reserved 
power vested in the Executive. Grace is no 
part of the legal manifestations of God. in nature. 



STUDY OF GOD REVEALED THROUGH GRACE. 209 

It is a reserved power in God as Executive of 
his own law. As now made known to man, God's 
clemency is available to us, just so far as our 
compliance with revealed conditions, causes 
God's motives in the gospel, to have reflex action 
in our own souls. 



11. Any man may be raved by the grace of God, 
but not until grace has wrought a change in his 
heart. Grace is not a passive principle, merely 
given, but a mode of action, a means of being 
developed, a grace of attainment. It is a move- 
ment of the soul God-ward, and hence heaven- 
ward. 

12. God as revealed through grace, presents an 
open door, by which, those choosing, can enter 
and find safety. Here is a way, where those 
who sufficiently deny themselves, and labor to- 
ward the ideal life, as revealed in Christ, may 
walk therein. The way to all such is peace. 



13. Those are liable to be fatally deceived, who 
would behold God in grace in such a sense as to 
ignore justice. That view of grace is available 
that leads the beholder to keep the law of God. 
All other views leave the soul unblest. "Be- 
ceiving the grace of God in vain," their condition 
becomes the more intolerable, in view of the 
judgment of the great day. 

14 



210 STUDY OF GOD REVEALED THKOUGH GRACE. 
QUESTIONS. 

1. What is said of rules for human conduct ? 
What of grace ? 

With what was Moses chiefly concerned ? 
What of his knowledge of grace ? 
What relation had grace to his distinction in 
history ? 

2. What is said of the name Jehovah ? 
What of atoning sacrifices ? 

Still, what was the Jewish dispensation? 

3. What is the gospel covenant ? 
What does the gospel pronounce ? 

How does it present the grace of God ? 2 Thes. 
2:16, 17. 

How does it present the law of God? John 13: 
15. 

How the love of God ? 1 John 5 : 3, 

4. What declaration of Christ ? 
What is said of his mission ? 

What did he do when asked to arbitrate ? 
When asked to pass sentence ? 

5. Upon what principle did Christ proceed to 
offer the New covenant ? 

What relation to nature ? 

6. What was the characteristic object of Christ's 
mission ? 

What is said of law ? 

What only was wanting ? 

What must Christ become to do this ? 

7. What do his discourses and Hfe give us? 



STUDY OF GOD REVEALED THROUGH GRACE. 211 

What position does law hold ? 
What was indispensable in the messenger of 
grace ? 

8. What is said of the study of God here ? 
What sentiment is quoted ? Rom. 8 : 3. 

9. What are the additional characteristics of 
God presented in the gospel ? 

What is said of an act of clemency ? 

10. Of what is it no part ? 
What is it ? 

How is it available to us ? 

11. How general are the provisions ? 
When is man saved ? 

What is said farther of the grace of the gospel ? 

12. What does God present through grace ? 
'Under what other figure is it given ? 

How may man walk therein ? 

13. What of those who would see the grace of 
God without justice ? 

What view is available ? 
What of all others ? 

What effect upon ourselves, when we trifle with 
God's grace? Mat. 10:15. 



MONOTHEISTIC WOESHIP. 



LESSON XXXVI. 



" The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel 
the Lord our God is one Lord." — Mark 12: 29. 



1. Monotheistic worship is opposed to a plu- 
rality of Gods. This is a cardinal feature in 
both covenants. It has also been copied into 
the system of Mohammedan worship. God's 
covenant with Abraham, looked to the gospel, 
much as twilight looks to the fullness of the 
morning. 

2. The promises of divine acceptance now, as 
then, are through faith in the character of God as 
revealed ; and an effort to reach the true ideal 
life. Rationalism denies all supernatural influ- 
ences. Its faith grasps no farther view of God, 
than that given in nature. 



MONOTHEISTIC WORSHIP. 213 

3. The New Testament professes to be Mono- 
theistic in principle. True, it exalts the man 
Jesus, to an official position above his fellows, 
above angels, above principalities, and powers 
where his might, wisdom, and expression of 
feeling, were those of God. 

4. It presents the fact that God dwelt in, and 
through Jesus, enabling him to claim that, in a 
manifestive sense, he was God. All this is con- 
sistent with the idea of One God. 

5. God must be able to dwell where he pleases 
and manifest himself as he choses. Every act of 
Jesus, which showed the Infinite, was God's act. 

6. Since he did not always act in an official 
capacity, he acted both as man and God. 

7: The adoration given to him, is not to his 
organic being ; but to God, as revealed through 
him. In such a sense, we may worship him, as 
we worship the Father. 

8 . There is room in the universe for but one infin- 
ite power. Great as is this point in Christian 
theology, the holding of it does not necessarily 
make a true worshiper. Mohammedanism with 
all its immoralities, is nevertheless, Monotheistic 
in kind. 

9. " God is a spirit, and they that worship him, 
must worship him in spirit, and in truth." God's 
law to the Hebrews, and Christ's life to the 
Christian, formed the true ideal, to which every 
true worshiper should aim to bring his life. 



214 MONOTHEISTIC WOESHIP. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. To what is Monotheism opposed ? 
What relation to the covenants ? 
What false worship has copied it ? 

What relation had the old covenant to the new? 
What is the meaning of covenant ? * 

2. Through what are the promises ? 
What besides faith ?* James, 2: 17, 18. 
What does rationalism deny? 

What is the extent of its faith ? 

3. What is the New Testament claim ? 
To what does it exalt Jesus ? 

In such a relation what does his official action 
become ? 

4. What is farther said ? 

In what sense was he God ? 
With what is this in accordance ? 

5. What is said of God ? 

Whose acts were those showing infinity ? 
Whose power raised Lazarus, or stilled the 
waves?* 

6. What followed when not acting officially ? * 
What then may we claim for him ? 

7. Can the title of God, be ascribed to his 
organic' being ? 



MONOTHEISTIC WOKSHIP. 215 

What relation does his official presentation 
hold to us ? 

8. What is said of infinite power ? 
What remark is made ? 

What of Mohammedanism? 

9. What is said of true worship ? 
What was the ideal life to the Hebrew ? 
What is it to the Christian ? John 12; 26 : 

Luke 22:20. 



*i$&&2)QSy 



IDOLATRY FORBIDDEN, 



LESSON XXXVII. 



" Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or 
any likeness. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, 
nor serve them.," — Ex. 20: 4, 5. 



1. The nature of idolatry is wrong in itself. Its 
history is replete with crime. The homage paid 
may be in one of three things, viz : a fancied 
image of the true God ; an image of some fancied 
god ; or the magnifying of some human passion 
to the dignity of an object of worship. 

2. In this^ latter sense, covetousness • may 
become idolatry. Man is an idolater when he 
makes wealth, honor, or pleasure, the chief end of 
his being. 

3. Idolatry, in the first form, degrades the wor- 
shiper, by degrading the idea of infinity, to 
something finite. This form cannot fail to have 



IDOLATRY FORBIDDEN. 217 

a reflex influence of degradation upon the person. 

4. - The second form degrades by directing the 
image of the true God, within man, to pay hom- 
age to something necessarily inferior to his own 
soul. Since this has no form, its higher intui- 
tions ever rise above the seen, to the unseen. 

5. The road to heathen altars has ever been 
strewn with human sacrifices. Life, before any 
form of idolatry, loses its sacredness. Hence the 
reason, that men, who make gain supreme, can 
sacrifice happiness and life to obtain it. 

6. We here have the reason why God classed 
idolatry with crime, and why he so severely pun- 
ished his chosen people for committing it. 

7. Idolatry is opposed to the development of 
a prosperous society. It is the action of the law 
of selfishness, without the restraints of virtue. 

8. The picture of its effects, as drawn by Paul, 
is not overdrawn, as applied to either of the 
three forms of idolatry. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. ' What is idolatry in its nature ? 
What its history ? 

In what does the crime consist? 

2. What is said of it in the latter sense ? 
When does it become thus ? 

What does Paul say ?* Col. 3 : 5. 



218 IDOLATRY FORBIDDEN. 

3. What is said of idolatry in the first form ? 

What does it leave upon the worshiper ? 

Does not the subjective influence, in all wor- 
ship, correspond to the conceptions of the being 
worshiped ?* 

4. How does the second form degrade ? 
To what do our higher intuitions rise ? 

5. What may be seen upon the road to heathen 
altars ? 

What influence upon man's estimation of life ? 
Point me to instances in your own neighbor- 
hood ?* 

What do such men sacrifice ? 

6. What does this explain ? 

What led to the dispersion of the ten tribes ?* 
2 Kings 17: 7. 

What led to the seventy years captivity of 
Judah?* Jer. 25: 5, 6. 

7. To what is idolatry opposed ? 
• Of what is it a development? 

8. What is said of Paul's picture ? Read Rom. 
1:20—32. 



PKOFANITY AS A CRIME. 



LESSON XXXVIII. 



" Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in 
vain : for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh 
His name in vain."— Ex. 20: 7. 



1. The gifted and energetic, of all classes, are 
blest with strong passions. Without proper 
cultivation, the passions, in all, but especially in 
the impulsive, are apt to assert the control of 
the man. 

2. With many they become untamable and 
fiery, seeking expression in strong interjections 
and exclamatory phrases, which coarsely bring 
in all the names of Deity. 



220 PROFANITY AS A CRIME. 

3. The habit of profane swearing is completely 
useless. Even the truth, thus affirmed, loses a 
portion of its credit, while a lie, cannot, by this 
means, be made any more wholesome. 

4. Measured by any civil standard of etiquette, 
the habit is coarse and vulgar, unbecoming any 
gentleman or lady. Truly speaking, this kind 
never use profanity! It is generally conceded 
that none, but the coarsest natures, will use it in 
the presence of refinement, especially in the 
presence of ladies and children. 

5. That which is indecent to be heard in the 
family circle, is unfit to become a habit with 
ourselves. The habit, pre -supposes a rankling 
feeling of unkindness, or at least, irreverence 
to God. 

6. Expression is given to this state of mind in 
blasphemous words. We would not degrade the 
name of our mother thus. We have even more 
respect for the name of our country. 

7 . Words cannot depict the ingratitude ex- 
pressed in a profane oath. The habit rapidly 
wastes our will-power against evil. But very 
few have enough left to leave off, when they 
desire to. The habit becomes second nature, 
and will not go at bidding. 

8. The grace of God has thus far proved an 
efficient remedy. The fountain being cleansed, 
the streams are naturally cleared. So, when the 
heart is right, words correspond. 



PROFANITY AS A CRIME. 221 

9. Delicateness of feeling would avoid such by- 
words and expressive phrases, as sound profane, 
even though not using God's name. 

10. All efforts to turn the words of Scripture 
into ridicule, or jest, are species of profanity. 
Profane feelings are marked, and are sure to 
follow the organic law of reproduction. Hence, 
we may find them "Visited upon the children to 
the third and fourth generation of them that 
hate God." 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is said of the gifted ? 

What results from a lack of cultivation? 

2. What do the passions become? 
In what do they seek expression? 
What names are profaned ? 

3. What is said of the habit ? 
What effect upon the truth ? 
How does it fail with a lie? 

4. What is the conclusion? 
What remark is made? 
What is conceded ? 

5. What inference is drawn? 
What does the habit pre-suppose ? 

6 . How does the feeling show itself ? 
Whom do we revere more than this ? 
What farther? 



222 PROFANITY AS A CRIME. 

7. What is said of the ingratitude of profanity? 
What does it do ? 

How does it show itself ? 
What does it become ? 

8. What has proved a sovereign remedy? 
What remark is made ? 

9. What is said of delicateness ? 

W T hat would refined manners do with them ? * 

10. What is siid of ridicule and jest with 
the Scriptures? 

What of profane feelings? 

What organic law is referred to? Ex. 20: 5. 

What does Christ say ? * Matt. 5 : 34-37. 



CAJ 



35v©& 



SABBATH OBSERVANCE AND 
PROSPERITY. 



LESSON XXXfX. 



" Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." Ex.. 20: 



1. The Sabbath is supposed to have commenced 
with man. A division of days into sevens pre- 
vailed, long before the giving of the law on Mt. 
Sinai. 

2. It was alluded to in the wilderness, as an 
ordinance existing before they re ached the Mount. 
Noah divided time into sevens. 

3. Cain and Abel observed a measurement of 
time in sacrifice, called the "Cutting off of days." 
supposed to be by sevens. Christ said <l It was 
made for man." 



224 SABBATH OBSERVANCE AND PROSPERITY. * 

4. As in the names of God, the Sabbath was 
adapted to man, as he came from the hand of 
God. Hence, it commemorated creation. 

5. Six revolutions of the earth were made to 
symbolize the six periods allotted to matter. 
The Sabbath would symbolize the eternity of 
rest. 

6. When written out upon tables, it was also 
made, to symbolize the Israelite's deliverance 
from Egypt, and rest in Canaan. 

7. Its intimate connection with national pros- 
perity, may be inferred by the stringent laws 
against its violation. Death was the penalty. 
The prophets often alluded to its non-observ- 
ance, as a fruitful cause of national calamity. 
Isaiah made the keeping of the Sabbath, one of 
the conditions, upon which God would turn 
away the threatened captivity. 

8. It holds a vital relation to the prosperity of 
any nation. The testimony of the French Cham- 
bers, after the bloody days of the revolution, 
attest its indispensable utility. 

9. The moral standards, for human character, 
are lowered, just in proportion, as the Sabbath 
is set at naught. We fail to use it aright, when 
we while it away in unnecessary sleep. 

10. We misuse it when we employ it for pur- 
poses of visits, or labor. The exceptions are 
works of mercy, and absolute necessity. 



SABBATH OBSERVANCE AND PROSPERITY. 225 

11. The prophet foretold a time, when the com- 
memoration of creation would go out of mind ; 
and the new creation should then be remem- 
bered. This may have alluded to redemption, 
and the consequent change of the Sabbath, from 
the seventh to the first day of the week. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. When did the Sabbath begin ? 
What is said of the division of time ? 

2. How was it alluded to in the wilderness ? 
Ex. 16:26. 

Did Noah observe it? Gen. 8: 10, 12. 

3-. "What allusion to Cain and Abel ? 
What did Christ say of it ? 

4. To what, at first, adapted? 

What did it then commemorate? Ex. 20: 11. 

5. What were revolutions of the earth made to 
symbolize ? Gen 1: 

What would the seventh ? 

6. What more did it symbolize, when it was 
given to Moses ? Deut. 5:15. 

7. What may be inferred from the stringent 
laws for its observance ? 

What was the penalty? 
How did prophets allude to it ? 
What does Isaiah say? Isa. 58:13. 
15 



226 SABBATH OBSERVANCE AND PROSPERITY. 

8. What connection with national prosperity ? 
What nation can testify to untold woes, under 

its abolition? 

9. What is said of moral standards ? 
What is said of unnecessary sleep ? 

10. When do we misuse it ? 
What are the exceptions? 

11. What time did Isaiah speak of? Isaiah 65: 
17, 18. 

What may this refer to ? 
Upon what day was Christ resurrected ? * 
Does not the new creation center here?* 
Have we the examples of inspired men on the 
subject? John 20: 26; Acts 20: 7. 



FILIAL KESPECT. 



LESSON XL. 

" Honor thy father and thy mother : that thy days may 
be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." 
Ex. 20: 12. 



1. The law of God regulating marriage, 
would bring all children under a well directed 
family discipline. The parent is by nature, as 
also by the law, held responsible for the acts of 
the child. Hence, upon the rule of returned 
justice, the child should look to the parent for 
guidance. 

2. Nature has given the parent the necessary 
affection and interest in the child's welfare, to 
constitute him the child's natural guardian. 
Nature has, in turn, given the well trained child 
the natural affection, to place itself under the 
complete jurisdiction of the parents. 

3. The respect due to parents should be such 
as to give implicit confidence in their judgment, 



228 FILIAL RESPECT. 

as to what is best. They have age and exper- 
ience, and are presumed to know better than the 
child, what is for its interests. This has special 
force where the parents are educated Christians. 

4. This respect should be such as to award the 
purest motives to them, in directing and restrain- 
ing their children. Except in cases of the 
greatest degradation, the parent's feelings never 
swerve from the purest motives toward their 
children. 

5. Obedience should be such that no youthful 
tempter can affect a change, by reciting what he 
is going to do, or be, when that course is known 
to be opposed to the wishes of parents. 

6. Filial respect should be such that the 
removal of legal responsibility will not lessen it. 
Years will not alter the love of the parent. 

7. The adult child may feel the responsibility 
of his own judgment, and forced to dissent from 
the parents advice ; but it should not be until 
fully weighed, and then with the greatest ten- 
derness. 

8. None have suffered so much for us as our 
parents. No other lives are so entwined with 
our existence. The strong years of manhood 
were spent for us. 

9. The parent is the natural confident of the 
child. Throughout our young lives no other 
person should be able to command our confidence, 
to the exclusion of either one of our parents. 



FILIAL RESPECT. 229 

QUESTIONS. 

1. Under what would God's law of marriage 
bring all children ? 

"What is said of the parent ? 
What follows? 

2. What has nature done ? 
What has it given the child ? 

With whom does Paul class those who disobey 
their parents ?* Rom. 1: 30. 

3. What is said of this respect ? 
What have they ? 

What presumption ? 

With whom has it special force ? 

4. What is farther said ? 

Where alone shall we find exceptions to this 
purity ? 

5. How fixed should it be ? 

Is not youthful temptation, the source of 
most children's disobedience ? 

6. What respect to legal restraints ? 
What is said of the parent's love ? 

7. May he not, in his majority, be forced to 
act contrary to the expressed judgment of 
parents ? 

With what feelings should he do it ? 

8. What is said of suffering? 
Of entwined lives ? 

For whom has their strength been spent ? 

9. How should the parent be regarded ? 
What remark is made ? 

Is not the child, who pursues such a course, 
quite safe from snares ?* 



THE SACKEDNESS OF HUMAN LIFE. 



LESSON2XLI. 



" Thou shalt not kill."— Ex.|20: 13.| 



1. Life is the greatest gift*of d God. Jits nature , 
commencement and close, are shrouded in mys- 
tery. Each has a right to enjoy life to the full- 
est extent of his ability. 

2. While one contributes his share to the wel- 
fare of society, he has a right to demand pro- 
tection of life and property. Allegiance to a 
country's flag, should secure protection at home 
and abroad. 

3. The life of man was prepared for great lon- 
gevity. That life, in virtue, would have been 
the crowning glory of the works of God. That 
life, in sin, proved a snare and seduction to the 



THE SACREDNESS OF^HUMAN LIFE. 231 

world, until holiness to God was scarcely known. 
God in mercy, reduced the years of probation to 
man's former youth. Circumstances have pressed 
into these short years, a large amount of life. 

4. This life, in every instance, is the probation 
of our existence. Its importance to us is meas- 
ured, only by the consequences resulting there- 
from. There is to each individual an infinite 
value attached to life. 

5. God's estimate of human life is seen in the 
original penalty, affixed to the shedding of blood. 
"Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall 
his blood be shed." 

6. Those disregard the sacredness of human 
life, who lead or induce others into a course of 
living, which will shorten their lives. 

7. It will not do to plead with Cain. "I am 
not my brother's keeper." The plea that he vol- 
untarily goes into the snare, with his eyes open, 
will not pass at the great court. No man, how- 
ever paid, can afford to have a share in the terri- 
ble work, of shortening human life. 

8. There is really no necessity for any one to 
engage in a business of this kind. The world 
has ever afforded abundant opportunity for 
employment, both lucrative, and useful. 

9. This commandment forbids that mode of 
eating, sleeping, drinking, dressing, inhaling, 
thinking or acting, that tends to shorten human 
life. 



232 THE SACEEDNESS OF HUMAN LIFE. 

10. Positively we owe to man, our noblest efforts 
for the protection of life, and the development 
of the noblest feelings and sentiments of human 
existence. 

11. The motive of God, in giving this law, is 
read in the implied obligations. Nothing can be 
more fatherly in looking to the welfare of his 
children. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is said of life ? 
What is mysterious about it ? 
What are our rights ? 

2. What demand upon society ? 
What upon country ? 

3. For what was it prepared ? 
What would it have been in virtue ? 
What did it become in siu ? 

What was the state of the world before the 
flood ?* Gen. 6:5. 
What did God do ? 
What have circumstances done ? 

4. What is life ? 

How its importance measured? 
What attaches to life ? 

5. Where is God's estimate seen? 
Can value represent life?* 



THE SACREDNESS OF HUMAN LIFE. 233 

6„ When is it disregarded ? 

Do not some branches of business do this ? * 

7. What will not do ? 

Where will this plea not pass ? 
What remark is made ? 

8. Are not men forced to this ? 
What does the world offer ? 

9. What does the commandment forbid ? 

10. What positive injunction ? 

11. What do these things teach of God ? 
How has he acted to us ? 



THE LAW OF CHASTITY. 



LESSON XLII. 



" But I say unto you, that whoso ver looketh on a woman 
to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already 
in his own heart."— Matt. 5: 28. 



1. Lust is kindled at the altar of selfishness. 
Selfishness would destroy the virtue, which is 
nature's shield against temptation. It would 
consign its victim to a state of mind bordering 
upon insanity. It would send her forth lost to 
society, dead to shame, and regardless of conse- 
quences, in this world; or the next. 

2. Such selfishness has often been compared to 
that which would take life for gain. Murder is 
an act which does not, necessarily, involve but 
the actor in crime. Adultery drags in the 
victim ; and takes away all hope of heaven. 



THE LAW OF CHASTITY. 235 

3. Murder robs the earth of human life ; 
adultery curses the earth with an abandoned life. 
Adultery viewed as a cause of woe, and suffering, 
is the worse. Murder viewed as the result of 
malignant feelings, and diabolical intentions, 
stands chief of crime. 

4. Its order, in the decalogue, seems to have 
been arranged on this latter view. Paul in writ- 
ing to the Galatians, evidently wrote, looking at 
the effects of crime upon society. He makes 
adultery the chief of all crime. 

5. The commandment evidently forbids all 
writings, looks, pictures or language, calculated 
to beget lewd, unchaste feelings. 

6. There is, implied in this, a demand to con- 
tribute our entire influence to the promotion of 
virture, in ourselves, and all others. 

7. It demands a discountenancing of all depar- 
tures from virtue ; while the boon of repentance 
should be with-holden from none. 

8. Nature shows her abhorence of the crime in 
her terrible judgments, following thick and fast. 
No other crime sends a human being forth so 
readily a walking pestilence, to the just scorn 
and virtuous abhorence of all. 

9. But of all the effects of this crime upon man, 
the moral are most to be dreaded. More than 
any other crime, it tends to stultify the conscience, 
producing a state of mind in which an oath has 



236 THE LAW OF CHASTITY. 

but little binding force. It morally disqualifies 
from all places of trust, public and private. 
10. How appropriate the model prayer "Lead 
us," as though conscious of the need of God's 
guidance, ' ' not into temptation, but deliver us 
from evil ." 



QUESTIONS. 

1. From whence comes lust ? 

What is the nature of selfishness here ?* 
What would it do ? 

To what state of mind would it consign its 
victim ? 

How send her forth ? 

2. With what has such selfishness been com- 
pared ? 

What is the act of murder ? 
What does adultery do ? 

3. How are the two compared ? 

How does adultery stand when viewed as a 
cause ? 

How does murder when considering intentions 
of malignance ? 

In what order are the last five commandments 
written?* Ex. 20: 13— 17. . 

What was Paul's view? Gal. 5: 19, 20. 

What does he make adultery to be ? 

5. What does the commandment forbid ? 



THE LAW OF CHASTITY. 237 

Will you repeat our Saviour's language? Matt. 
5:28. 

6. What is implied ? 

7. What does it demand ? 

What should not be with-holden from the peni- 
tent? 

8. How does nature show her abhor ence ? 
What is said of the crime ? 

.9. What is still more to be feared ? 

What is the tendency ? 

From what does it disqualify ? 
10. What farther remark ? 

With whom does Paul rank the adulterer ? 1 
Cor. 6:9, 10. 

What does he say of them all ? * 

-Did our Saviour open the way for such to 
repent?* John, 8: 11. 



^c^g^ 



THEFT AND ITS KESULTS. 



LESSON XLIII. 



Thou shalt not steal." Ex. 20: 15. 



1. The right to possess property is inherent and 
self-evident. This involves the right to have the 
lawful claim to our own, universally respected. 
The desire for property is evidently from God. 
It constitutes one of the grand motive-powers for 
general industry. 

2. Without it, man would be dwarfed in intel- 
lect, and enfeebled in action. This desire is so 
apt to be perverted, that inspiration gave as a 
maxim, "The love of money is the root of all 
evil." 

3. By this law man is forbidden, unless pre- 
sented as a gift, to appropriate lands, houses, 
food, raiment, goods or chattels, belonging to 
another, except compensation is given. 

4. This law is violated when we oppress the 
hireling in his wages. We do this when we 
receive labor at unreasonable compensation, or 



THEFT AND ITS RESULTS. ' 239 

by withholding wages longer than the circum- 
stances will warrant. 

5. It is violated when we appropriate goods 
found, unless due pains have been taken to find 
the owner. Also, when we retain valuables, 
delivered to us, through mistake ; or when we 
make other's necessities our opportunity; or 
gamble with public funds. 

6. Like all its associates, this law has its pos- 
itive injunctions. It demands of us a sincere 
regard for the prosperity of our neighbors ; and 
a reasonable co-operation in enhancing and pro- 
tecting his property. 

7. It requires a union of interests as a common 
defense against foreign enemies, beasts, or the 
raging elements. To see a man's property in 
danger, or being consumed, without giving due 
alarm, and all reasonable help, is a violation of 
this law. 

9. The fruit of brain labor is by this law 
respected; and the achievements of soul, with- 
out detraction, duly acknowledged. 

9. The religion, taught in the Bible, stands 
alone as a natural guardian to the rights, both 
of life and property, The history of the worship 
of false gods has ever been one of thieving; 
where life has been lightly esteemed. 

10. In proportion as God's law gains with a 
people, bolts, bars, and chains, for correction, 
become superfluous. 



240 THEFT AND ITS RESULTS. 

QUESTIONS . 

1. What is said of the right to property? 
What does this involve ? 

From whence came the desire for property ? 
Of what service is it? 

2. What would man be without it ? 

What maxim has arisen from its perversion ? 
8. What does the law forbid ? 

What may be said of all such law, even, if 
never written ?* 

4. How else violated ? 
How may this be done ? 

5. When as to goods found ? 
When as to mistakes? 

When we take advantage of necessities? 

6. What is farther said ? 
What does it demand of us ? 

7. What does it require farther ? 
What remark is made ? 

8. What intellectual security ? 
What credit to the soul's labor ? 

9. What is said of Bible religion ? 
What of the history of false gods ? 

10. W T hat conclusion is gained? 

To what would the gospel direct this ceaseless 
desire to gain ?* Matt. 6: 19—21. 



INTEGEITY AS A VIRTUE. 



LESSON XLIV. 



"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." 
•Ex. 20: 16. 



1. Speech is one of the great gifts of God. As 
a means of pleasure and profit, it stands unri- 
valed. No other gift takes so wide a range, so 
extensively affects the well being of society, or 
causes such untold woe. 

2. Speech is useful only as truthful. Lying is 
a most shameful perversion of the gift. That 
which was given to edify, inspire, and lead the 
human mind, and heart, is used to beget doubt 
and distrust, to scatter and destroy. 

3. The star of the morning is thrust down to 
hell. " O Lucifer, how hast thou fallen !" This 

16 



242 INTEGRITY AS A VIRTUE. 

command wo aid prevent all mental reservations, 
in pretending to give the truth. 

4. It would hold the law-maker to the Magna 
Charta of his work. It would hold the executive 
power to the law of the land. The witness 
stand and the jury box would alike be free from 
perjury. 

5. It is designed to supersede all superfluous 
expletives in talk. A known habit of truth has 
greater weight, in the most dispassioned state- 
ment, than the loudest utterance with profane 
oaths. 

6. Our Saviour said let your yea be yea, and 
your nay be nay, for whatsoever is more than 
these cometh of evil. The liar has the misfor- 
tune of not being believed when he speaks the 
truth. 

7. Children are exceedingly apt to fall into the 
habit of falsehood. Much of this is due to wrong 
influences in government. Perfect truthfulness, 
on the part of parents and instructors, is indis- 
pensable to the right bias of the child. An evil 
here will hardly fail to be copied. 

8. It should be the prayerful study of the parent 
that he may early get before the child, a moral 
horror of lying. Perfect truthfulness will not 
long remain with the child, who finds in confes- 
sions, no mitigation of chastisement. 

9. Washington's example to his son George, in 



INTEGRITY AS A VIRTUE. 243 

the matter of the damaged fruit tree, is worthy 
of every parent's attention. Many offences, unless 
too often repeated, may be fully pardoned ; and 
the occasion made a text for exalting the beauty 
of truthfulness. 

10. On the other hand, where punishment is 
thought fitting for the offence, which has been 
stoutly denied, it should be divided ; and, by 
far, the greater portion given for the falsehood. 

11. Some noble goal of attainment should early 
be placed before the child, as a prize to be pub- 
licly awarded at a suitable age, for perfect truth- 
fulness of character. 

12. No willful falsehood should be passed with 
indifference. The child may be led to see that 
lying is a crime of fearful magnitude. The ter- 
rible consequences to himself, to the woild, and 
above all, the offence to the kind heart of "Our 
Heavenly Father," should be placed before him. 

13. Gaining his tender feelings, they should be 
sealed by prayer with the child. Truthfulness 
should be made a specialty. God's abhorrence 
of lying, after receiving great light, may be illus- 
trated by the fate of Ananias and Sapphira. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is said of speech ? 
What as a means ? 



244 INTEGRITY AS A VIRTUE. 

What remark is made ? 

2. When is speech useful ? 
What of lying ? 

How does it pervert speech ? 

3. What figure is used? 
What quotation? 

To whom did this originally apply ? * Isa, 14 : 

4. 12. 

What would it prevent ? 

4. What benefit to law-makers ? 
To executives of law ? 

To witnesses and jurors ? 

5. What would it supersede ? 
What advantage in truth? 

6. What did our Saviour say ? 
W T hat befalls the liar ? 

7. What is said of children? 
To what is, much of it due ? 
What example must be given ? 
What will result from the opposite ? 

8. What should the parent aim to do ? ' 

How may truthful confessions be turned into 
lying? 

9. What is said of Washington ? 
What of many offences ? 
What more ? 



INTEGRITY AS A VIRTUE. 245 

10. What of punishment, that follows denial ? 
For what should the greater part be given ? 

11. What more? 

12. What should follow willful falsehoods?. 
What must the child be made to see? 

What, in particular, must be placed before 
him? 

13. How may his tender feelings be sealed ? 
What should be made a specialty ? 

Where do we read God's abhorrence of the 
crime ? Acts 5: 1, 5. 
Where again ?* 2 Kings 5: 25—27. 



-<W(5W^ 



INOBDINATE DESIEE. 



LESSON XLV. 



"For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean 
person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any 
inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." Eph. 5: 5. 



1. Inordinate desire is generally set forth in 
Scripture as a form of idolatry. Inordinate 
desire led man to turn from the worship of the 
true God to the false. 

2. In the worship of the true God,, his higher 
nature could find means for edification. In the 
worship of idols, the lower nature was satiated 
with gratification, while the higher withered and 
died. 

3. The principle, leading us to desire what is 
another's, without due compensation, is substan- 



INORDINATE DESIRE. 247 

tiallj the same, as that which led to idolatry, 
Hence, covetousness is so often called idolatry. 

4. The tenth commandment seems to have been 
given as a guard against the breaking of what 
stands before it. These are the great rules of 
life. He that is faithful, in what appears to 
him the minor, will certainly observe the major. 

5. Again, the non-observance of the minor will 
prove an entering wedge to the disregard of the 
major. 

6. It forbids our laying plans to compel our 
neighbor to sell to us, what he needs for the 
comfort of himself and family. The desire that 
he may be compelled to sell is covetousness. 

7. - It would prohibit our desiring to get hold of 
property, which is offered for sale, at anything 
[ess than proper prices ; or to get more for our 
own services than remunerating pay, 

8. It iorbids our desire to possess what belongs 
to our neighbor by affianced love. It does not 
matter whether yet affirmed by legal enactment 
or not ; affianced loves hould be respected as 
sacred. Man should not desire the heart already 
given to another. 

9. It enjoins upon us to contribute to the sup- 
port of a government, where life, liberty, and 
the pursuit of happiness, are practiced; to give 
our influence, to have each and all, protected in 
character, influence, and standing in the public 



248 INOBDINATE DESIRE. 

confidence, to which they are entitled by their 
own honest, unwearied exertions. 

10. This commandment strikes the ax at the 
root of all species of gambling, in churches 
or saloons, for good or for bad purposes. Better 
never have a church building, or hear the living 
preacher, than to raise support for either, by 
chance games, or tickets of lottery. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What do the Scriptures make of inordinate 
desire ? 

What did it, at first, lead man to do? 

2 . What do we find in true worship ? 
What in the false ? 

What part of our nature withers under unre- 
strained sensual gratification ? 

3. What is said of the principle of covetous- 
ness ? 

What is it often called? 

4. How does the tenth commandment stand to 
the rest ? 

What are these rules ? 
What remark is made ? 

5. How will the rule work the other way ? 

Is not a tender conscience, upon the so-called 
minor things, the best safeguard to a correct life?* 



INORDINATE DESIRE. 249 

6. What does this rule forbid ? 
What would this desire be ? 

7. What would it prohibit ? 
What farther? 

8. What else does it forbid ? 
What remark is made ? 
What should man not desire ? 

9. What does it enjoin? 

To what should we give our influence ? 

10. At what root does it strike ? 
What remark is made ? 

Can the preaching of the gospel tell upon the 
consciences of bad men, while the church prac- 
tices the very means that are denounced in 
others ?* 



^c^^r 



THE MANHOOD OF JESUS. 



LESSON XL VI. 



"Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like 
unto his brethern."— Heb. 2: 17. 



1. In whatever relation we behold Christ, he 
seems perfect in that respect. Sacrificially, he 
was a lamb without blemish. As a man, he was 
the "Son of Man." Each relation that he sus- 
tained to man, should first be considered by itself, 
as he claims completeness in that relation. Sec- 
ondly, it should be considered in reference to all 
others, as he claims that each is necessary to com- 
plete the whole. 

2. The conception of Jesus was by the direct 
power of God, amounting to a new creation. 



THE MANHOOD OF JESUS. 251 

But this does not show him divine, any more 
than did the direct creation of Adam and Eve. 
Divinity was united with him in a different way, 
and at a different time. He was fully, completely, 
a man. 

3. To be a man, he must have had a human 
body, with man's physical wants ; a human mind 
with man's. intellectual wants ; and a human soul 
with man's spiritual wants. The circumstances 
surrounding his birth, childhood and manhood, 
showed that he had all these. He ate, slept, grew 
weary and rested, studied, prayed and increased 
in wisdom, and in favor with God and man. 

4. Unless his nature was like man's, dependent, 
teachable, subject to temptation, with the same 
liability to incur the displeasure of God, he could 
not be an example to those subject to all these 
things. 

5. It is probable that he possessed the unde- 
praved nature given to Adam, as created. Be it 
so, he only becomes the more interesting as a 
man, since he was enabled to keep that nature 
unsullied to the last. 

6. He showed marvelous wisdom in the temple, 
at twelve years of age. This only brings to light 
his prophetic gift, then in the hands of the boy. 
Under this gift alone, man's intuitions would be 
nearer right, than the most matured conclusions, 
from the profoundest reasonings. 

7. His wonderful answer to his parents only 



252 THE MANHOOD OF JESUS. 

shows how completely he had become absorbed 
in the contemplation of his future work. That 
he went back with his parents, and became sub- 
ject to them, shows how completely that great 
nature was under the control of his will ; and it 
farther shows, that God had not yet ordered him 
to present himself to the world, nor begin his 
official relation as the Saviour. 

8. Thirty years were spent in comparative ob- 
scurity, while developing his manhood. That 
the particulars of his early life would be interest- 
ing to us, there can be no doubt ; but the veil of 
obscurity is thrown over these, while the aggre- 
gate of his life is known. God revealed this. 

9. When the time came to show himself to Israel 
he stepped forward to illustrate the righteousness 
of the new covenant, under the administration of 
John. He had been all these years illustrating 
the old covenant by his life. The two were now 
to unite. The voice of God proclaimed the suc- 
cess of the one, and the ordinance the other. It 
was thus he * 'fulfilled all righteousness." 

10. The visible descent, and the remaining of 
tl^e Holy Spirit upon him, or as Paul expresses 
it, the bringing of the. first begotten into the 
world, anointed the man Jesus to the work for 
w r hich he was prepared. 

11. His manhood did not cease here. His for- 
mer trials will not answer now. He must be 
tempted in the official position of his. power. 



THE MANHOOD OP JESUS. 253 

12. Other men have been the recipients of great 
gifts and extensive powers, and they have been 
buffetted by Satan according to these powers. 
Some who were raised in point of privilege 
to the morning stars, have been thrust down to 
hell. Jesus must be an example to all these. 

13. God led him to the wilderness where the 
severe ordeal of temptation should be met alone. 
The divinity rested upon him in conscious power 
and wisdom. His angelic protectors were with- 
drawn. His prophetic power seemed obscured, 
beholding facts in a human light, but not in the 
divine. 

14. He stood up, the man Jesus, to meet the 
same suggestions that would be presented to 
other men with similar power. In proportion 
as this power excelled what had been borne by 
others, so did his temptation. It took forty days 
to pass this fearful ordeal, and the angels came 
near to congratulate him in his victory, and he 
" returned in the power of the spirit." to his 
native land. 

15. This is only one of the many ordeals that he 
must pass, to be enabled at last, to say, ' ' I have 
set you an example, follow me." That he might 
be a Saviour, his life must aggregate in God's 
ideal of a Christian life. 

16. The first year of Christ's ministry was 
subject to fearful fluctuations of praise and 
censure, of friendship and hate. The second 



254 THE MANHOOD OF JESUS. 

was a : triumphal march, as of a king in his own 
right. The fame and applause, heaped upon 
him, were such as to try the metal of the purest; 
but the long nights of prayer, spent by him in 
the mountains, attest his fidelity to his work. 

17. Just before his crucifixion, and while upon 
the mount of transfiguration, God again pro- 
nounced lr.s life such, as to be N well pleasing in 
his sight. 

18. Six days before the passover upon which 
he would be crucified, Christ came to Judea. 
These days appear to be an epitome of his six 
years of labor. The anointing took place at the 
house of Simon. The second day was his tri- 
umphal march to the temple, the remaining days 
are more obscure, until he was again forsaken 
by his friends, while his foes gained upon him. 

19. At last, conscious that he must be left alone, 
he cried out, "Lord, save me from this hour, 
but for this hour, came I into the world. Thy 
will be done, not mine." 



QUESTIONS. 

What is said of Christ ? 
What as a sacrifice ? 
What as a man ? 

How should we first view these relations ? 
How secondly ? 



THE MANHOOD OF JESUS. 255 

2. What is said of Jesus' conception ? 
To what does this amount ? 

Does this show him divine ? 
What is said of his divinity ? 
As our example, what was he ? 

3. To be a man, what must he possess ? 
What do the circumstances show ? 
What are some of these ? 

4. What is farther said ? 

5. What is probable ? 
What follows ? 

6. What appears at twelve ? 
Of what was this the result? 
What will this gift do ? 

7. What does his answer show? 

- What his going back with his parents ? 
What farther ? 

8. How many years-were spent in Jesus', minor- 
ity? 

What is said of the particulars of his early 
life? 

What of the aggregate ? 

9. At thirty, what did he do ? 
W T hat had he been doing ? 
What was to take place now ? 
How? 

What resulted ? 

10. How was Christ anointed ? 

Is not this the place and time he partook of 
the divine nature ?* 



256 THE MANHOOD OF JESUS. 

11. What is farther said of his manhood ? 
Of his former trials ? 

What now ? 

12. What is said of others ? 
What must Jesus be ? 

13. Where did God lead him ? 
For what purpose ? 

What rested upon him ? 
Where were the angels ? 
What of his prophetic powers ? 

14. How was he to meet Satan ? 

What is N said of the strength of his temptation ? 
How long was it ? 
What was the result ? 

15. What is farther said ? 

What must his life aggregate in ? 

16. What is said of his first year's labor ? . 
Of the second ? 

What did he meet with? 

What would it do ? 

How did he show his fidelity ? 

17. What happened at the transfiguration ? 

18. What, six days before crucifixion ? 
What are these days ? 

Who anointed him ? * 

What happened upon the second day ? 

What of the others ? 

19. Of what was he conscious ? 

What did he express as a strong desire ? 
To what did he calmly submit ? 



THE PRIESTHOOD OF' CHRIST. 



LESSON XLVII. 



" Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec." 
Heb. 7: 21, 



1. The office of priest was intermediate between 
God and the worshiper. He was a divinely 
appointed object teacher. All the great truths 
of worship were to be graphically illustrated. 

2. Those especially which pertained to the New 
covenant of pardon were sealed by blood. Paul 
says, ' ' And without the shedding of blood there 
was no remission." 

3. Those priests were best fitted for their office 
who united the prophetic gift with their priestly 
office. In the absence of this gift, a prophet 
was engaged, to assist at the altar. He was 
especially to announce when the offering was 

17 



258 THF PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST. 

acceptable to God. In other words, lie was to 
decide when the heart of the worshiper was 
acceptable to God. 

4. God has ever reserved the right of appoint- 
ing these men to their office. Paul writes "And 
no man taketh this honor unto himself, but 
he that is called of God, as was Aaron." So, 
also, Christ glorified not himself to be made 
a high priest, but he that said unto him, "thou 
art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee.' " 

5. The cross is made to correspond to the altar, 
and Christ is both priest and victim. He 
approached the cross with the declarations of a 
prophet. " I lay down my life, and after three 
days I will take it again. I, if I be lifted up, will 
draw all men unto me." 

6. A world of repentant sinners are the sup- 
posed worshipers, who are capable of testing the 
truth of his declaration in the light of the divine 
response. The resurrection was the set test. If 
he rises, then is his offering acceptable to God, 
and his priestly utterances endorsed. 

7. Paul says he was " Proclaimed to be the Son 
of God, with power by the resurrection from the 
dead." The repentant are capable of testing the 
truth, by witnessing the power of the resurrec- 
tion in their own souls. Hence, the teaching 
becomes complete. 

8. Paul argues that he was not an unsympa- 
thizing priest, bringing a nature foreign to those 



THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST. 259 

whom he would instruct, but was in all respects 
tempted as we are, and yet without sin. 

9. Other priests, being sinful themselves, 
brought forward another life, the purest they 
had, but which was only, at best, the emblem of 
innocence, but Jesus brought his own life, and lay 
it down as our example, sealing it with his blood. 

10. This example is presented not as suitable 
for a few only, but for all men. God himself 
sanctions it, as his own ideal of a Christian life. 

11. That life was once upon probation, hanging 
in the same scale of uncertainty as our own lives, 
but it now has the seal of blood upon it ; the 
testament is confirmed. Christ emblemized this 
new testament in his blood, by the juice of the 
grape. 

12. This real life becomes the Christian's ideal, 
in all his aspirations for holiness of heart. By 
contrast, it shows the sinner how to condemn his 
own life. By comparison, it shows the Christian 
how to amend his. 

13. Such is its exactness to the divine mind, 
that any attempt under grace to follow this life, 
brings man into favor with God. Hence, the 
blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin . 

14. So much of his human nature will ever 
stand before us as priest. But the doctrines 
announced, the precepts given, the promises 
made, were not his as a man, r but belonged to 
our Father in heaven. 



260 THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST. 

15. These, Christ chose to emblemize by bread. 
The vehicle, through which God communicated 
the truths of the gospel to the world, is Christ's 
prophetic nature. This nature was so in har- 
mony with God, that it enters at once within the 
" holy of holies." This voice therefore, is no 
longer that of a man only, speaking from earth, 
but it speaks from the throne, as the voice of 
God. 

16. Paul made this use of the figure, as he 
unites divinity with our high priest, interceding 
in our behalf. First, he places him, from the 
purity of his nature, within the holy of holies, 
uttering the mind of God. Secondly, that the 
same is witnessed to our hearts by the Holy 
Spirit with groanings, that cannot be uttered. 
Thirdly, God is represented as speaking through 
the preached gospel. " As though God did 
beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, 
be ye reconciled to God." 

17. Three kinds of intercession devolved upon 
a Jewish priest . First, to bring the law of God 
and the sinner's life in, violation, objectively 
before the mind of the worshiper. Secondly, to 
portray the mercy of God and the condition of 
acceptance. Thirdly, to excite the heart by faith, 
to a subjective response to the will of God. 
Christ is pre-eminently prepared to fufill all these 
requisitions of the priest. 



THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST. 261 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What was the office of priest? 
Why did he stand there? 

How was he to impress the great truths of 
God? 

2. What of those of the New covenant? 
How does Paul express it ? 

3. Who were the best priests? 
How sometimes assisted? 
What was he to announce? 
How is it again expressed ? 

4. Who appointed the priest ? 
What did Paul say? 

5.. What does the cross correspond to ? 

What is Christ here ? 

How did he approach the cross ? 

Head the prophecy pertaining to the resurrec- 
tion. 

Eead that pertaining to the spread of the 
gospel. 

Are these all the prophecies he uttered?* 

6. Who are the supposed worshipers? 
What are they capable of doing? 

7. What does Paul say? 

How can man test this utterance of Paul's ? 
John 7: 17. 

What results to such ? 

8. What was the argument of Paul? Read 
Heb. 2:17, 18. 

9. What was the nature of the life, laid upon 
the Jewish altar ? 



262 THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST. 

How did Christ's life differ? 

What was the emblem of life ?* 

What is Christ's life to us? 

What was the seal ? 

What are the principles of his life called under 
the seal?* Luke 22: 20. 
10,. For whom is it given? 

What does God say of it ? 

11. Where was that life once? 
Where is it now ? 

What is selected as an emblem of this life, as 
shown in the Lord's supper ? 

12. What is Christ's life to Christians ? 
What to the sinner? 

How do Christians use this ideal? 

13. What results in attempting to follow Christ ? 
What is the true goal with all Christians ? 

14. Is this life abiding ? 

From whence came the doctrines of grace? 

15. How are these emblemized ? 
Through what nature given ? 
What is said of it ? 

16. Where does he place our high priest? 
What witness does he bring? 

In what sense is the gospel God's voice ? 

17. How many kinds of intercession devolved 
upon a Jewish priest? 

What was the first ? 

The second ? 

The third? 

What is said of Christ? 



THE DIVINE CHARACTEE OF CHRIST. 



LESSON XL VIII. 



"If David then calleth him Lord, how is he his son.' 
Matt. 22: 45. 
" He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." — John 14: 



1. God is a spirit, having neither beginning of 
days, or ending of life. It was difficult therefore 
for a Jew to understand one of their own country- 
men, when he claimed to be that God. 

2. This arose from the misapprehension of the 
sense in which it was claimed. There was no 
misapprehension in the mind of the Jew, as to 
the term "Son of God." They understood % it 
just as Christ used it, as a figure of speech signi- 
fying "God again." 



264 DIVINE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 

3. That our Saviour used the term with this 
meaning is evident, in that he used the terms 
Father and Son interchangeably. The difficulty 
arose in seeing how he could be either. This 
difficulty would have been removed, by a right 
understanding of their own Scriptures. 

4. They should have ceased to look at his organic 
being, for the claim was not made in reference 
to this. Christ claimed that for a certain num- 
ber of years he had been officially manifesting 
God to the world. They should have looked, 
therefore, for the evidences of God in a manifes- 
tive sense. 

5. When they beheld Christ healing incurable 
diseases, raising the dead, and commanding the 
waves, they should have asked whose power is 
this, here displayed ? It cannot be the power 
of man. Unfortunately their wicked hearts led 
them to ascribe this power to Satan, the great 
destroyer. 

6. It would seem far more natural to ascribe 
such power, in doing good, to God; especially 
as the life of the individual was spotless, while 
thus engaged. The same may be said of any 
other godlike attribute which Christ possessed. 

7. Christ made the modest claim that he could 
not do these things of himself ; .but that God, 
who was in him, was working, through him, to 
do these things. This claim ought not to have 
been incomprehensible to a people believing in 



DIVINE CHARACTEE OF CHRIST. 265 

the inspiration of the Scriptures, and in many 
supernatural agencies with men. 

8. That Christ claimed to be God only in a 
revealed sense, is still more manifest from his 
own explanation of his claim. They had accused 
him of blasphemy in the use of the term. 

9. " Jesus answered them, Is it not written in 
your law, I said ye are gods? If he called them 
gods unto whom the word of God came, and the 
Scriptures cannot be broken, say ye of him, 
whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into 
the world, 'Thou blasphemest,' because I said, I 
am the Son of God ?" 

10. Whenever men bowed in worship to his 
revealed nature, Christ gave his sanction. " Ye 
call me Lord and Master, and ye say well, for so 
I am." Peter said, ' 'Thou art the Christ of God. " 
Jesus replied, "Blessed art thou Simon Barjona, 
for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto 
thee, but my Father in heaven." 

11. But when the young man mistook his per- 
son for an organic God, calling him "Good 
Master," Jesus replied, "Why callest thou me 
good ? there is none good but one, that is God." 
It would be just as much idolatry to worship any 
part of Christ's organic being, as to bow down 
to any other form or image. 

12. Christ's human nature is not brought for- 
ward as worthy of worship. This is only our 
example. Still there is a clearly defined sense, 



266 DIVINE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 

in which men should worship Christ, even as 
they worship the Father. "And when he bring- 
eth his first begotten into the world, he saith, 
and let all the angels of God worship him." 

13. Christ was not divine, by virture of being 
miraculously conceived. The account given in 
part by Matthew, but more fully in Luke, may 
show a new creation, through procreation, and 
that the issue possessed the uprightness of our 
parents in the garden. They too were direct 
from the creative hand of God, without being 
divine. 

14. Neither was he divine, because he was an 
extraordinary prophet. Some of God's prophets 
lived so near to him, that they were represented 
as walking with God, or seeing him face to face, 
but they were not divine. 

15. He was divine just when, and where, and 
in that sense, that he was officially appointed to 
manifest God to man. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. How is God defined? 

What difficulty met the Jew, when God became 
Saviour ? 

2. From what did it arise ? 

Did the Jew understand the force of the term 
"Son of God." 



DIVINE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 267 

What is the meaning ? 

3. How did our Saviour use the term? 
From whence the Jew's difficulty ? 
How would it have been removed ? 

4. What should they have ceased to do ? 
What did Christ claim ? Matt. 11 : 27. 

In what sense should they have looked for 
God? 

5. What did they behold ? 
What should they have asked ? 

What negative conclusion was apparent ? 
What unfortunate conclusion was reached ? 

6. What would seem more natural ? 
What additional circumstances ? 
What more? 

7. What modest claim did Jesus make? John 
7:16; 10:25. 

What assurance ? John 10: 29. 

What was the belief of the Jew ? 

Ought Christ's claim to have stumbled them? 

8. In what sense did Christ claim to be God? 
How is this evident ? 

What had they accused him of ? 
What had Christ said? John 10: 30. 

9. What saying of the law did Christ quote? 
Why did God pronounce these men gods ? 
What did Christ say of the Scriptures ? 
What comparison did he claim ? 



268 DIVINE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 

What name did he now interchange for Father ? 

Does not this argument make it sure, that the 
term "Father and Son," as applied to Christ, 
were in the sense of revealing God ?* 

10. When did Christ give his sanction? 
What did Peter say ? 

What did Christ reply? 

11. When did he check men ? 

What did Jesus reply to the young man ? 
When is the worship of Jesus idolatry ? 

12. What use should we make of Christ's human 
nature ? 

What is farther said? 
What allusion to the angels ? 

13. Does the miraculous conception of Jesus 
prove him divine? 

What may it show ? 

What is said of our first parents ? 

14. Did Christ's prophetic gift make him divine? 
What is said of other prophets? 

15. State the true sense of his divinity? 



DIVINE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 



LESSON XLIX. 



"The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed 
me to preach the gospel to the poor ; he hath sent me to 
heal the broken-hearted, and to preach deliverance to the 
captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty 
them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the 
Lord." Luke, 4: 18, 19. 



1. Jesus was not prepared to manifest God to 
the world until thirty years of age. Coming to 
the Jordan a prophet, heralded by one of the 
greatest prophets of the age, he was publicly 
anointed, in a miraculous manner, to his great 
work as a Saviour. 

2. This is the place and time that God claims 
to have imparted to him the divine nature. It 
rested upon him in visible shape, and remained 
upon him. 

3. Christ made no pretension to divinity until 



270 . DIVINE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 

now. Henceforth, he both shows and claims, 
for his official acts, divinity. His life was not 
henceforth an even showing of God. He still 
had great problems of humanity to work out. 
It was only at times when called for, that he 
could manifest the divine. 

4. Christ had no occasion to show God daring 
the forty day's temptation in the wilderness ; 
none when he sat down wearied upon the well, 
to ask drink of the Samaritan woman ; but be- 
fore he arose, he needed to manifest the true 
God to her. She was convinced, and departing, 
asked her people to "come see a man, who told 
me all things that ever I did ; is not this the 
Christ?" 

5. It was not proper to use his divine power 
simply to satisfy his own personal wants. The 
temptation to turn stones into bread to satisfy 
his own hunger, could not turn him from his pur- 
pose. He was forbidden to use the power for 
any purpose, bat to fulfill his benevolent mission 
to man. 

6. But when the occasion demanded, he was not 
at a loss to send forth scintillations of divine light 
from every muscle of his face.. From his eyes, 
God looked forth ; from his tongue, God spoke 
to the people. At all other times he labored as 
one of God's prophets, as humble and dependent 
as they. 

7. Any representation of Christ's nature, that 



DIVINE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 271 

places the commencement of all, not divine, at 
his conception in the flesh, is manifestly wrong. 
The finite and infinite had a union in Abraham's 
day. ; yea, as John says, before the creation of 
matter ; or as Paul writes, he was God's "first 
begotten." 

8. We shall be asked, if then the human nature 
of Christ was merely human, and the divinity 
was God manifesting himself through the human, 
how can we show that Christ had a prior existence ? 
The answer is apparent. 

9. The incarnation lay this tax on the spirit 
world, that they should spare their king, the 
"'first begotten," while he might confirm the 
covenant with many in Israel for one week. 

10. ' God knows best why he chose to incarnate 
by means of the inspiritized being, rather than 
make the incarnation a separate and disconnected 
manifestation of himself. The facts, as revealed, 
are all we can know, for the present. The reason 
why, we may see hereafter. 

11. We suggest, however, that it may have been 
to bring the angelic world into closer vicarious 
sympathy with fallen man ; and to unite under 
one visible king the inhabitants of both worlds. 

12. The whole six years of Christ's labors were 
very trying, and his endurance at times painful, 
but the last six days of his work were pre-emi- 
nently so. This real week was to index the pro- 
phetic week. The scenes of six years were 



272 DIVINE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 

pressed into six days. The last daj drew the 
bloody sweat from his pores. 

13. "And there was silence in heaven about 
the space of half an hour." The sympathies of 
the world are moved as they read how Napoleon, 
standing in his stirrups, and looking through his 
field-glass, beheld his trusty officer, with a few 
veterans, attempting to pierce the Austrian 
center ; and how he exclaimed, as he witnessed 
his thinning ranks, "Will he turn and fly?" 

14. The hosts of heaven stop their song to 
witness the contest of him who trod the "wine- 
press alone." Nor will they strike a note, until 
he returns victorious over death, hell and the 
grave. The prophetic half hour gloriously ends, 
and the angel of the gospel is prepared to sound. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. Whit is said of Jesus? 
To what did he come ? 
By whom heralded ? 
What took place there ? 

2. How does this time and place become noted ? 
What voice from heaven did they hear ? Luke 

3:22. 

3. What is said of Christ's pretentions ? 
What does he henceforth claim ? 

Was God manifest all the time ? 



DIVINE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 273 

What had he yet to work out? John 5: 17. 
When did he manifest the divine ? 

4. When had he no occasion to show God? 
What other purely human incident ? 
How did the scene change ? 

What resulted ? 
What did she say ? 

5. Was his power given for personal gratifica- 
tion ? 

When was Christ tempted to use it thus? 
What one purpose was kept in view ? 

6. What is said of the proper occasion ? 
Who then looked from his eyes ? 

Who directed his tongue ? 
What of all other times ? 

7. - Did all that was finite in him, commence at 
his conception ? 

What is said of Abraham's day ? 

Wliat before the creation of matter? John 1 : 2, 3. 

What does Paul call him ? Heb. 1:6, 

Is not all that is made finite ? * 

8. What shall we be asked ? 
Can this be answered ? 

9. What is the answer ? 

Where is the prophecy of the prophetic week's 
work?* Dan. 9:27. 

10. By what means did God incarnate ? 
What being did he employ from heaven ? 
What are we permitted to know concerning it ? 

11. What suggestion is made ? 

18 



274 DIVINE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 

12. What is said of Christ's labors? 
Of the last six days ? 

What were they to index ? 

How dreadful was the agony towards the last ? 

13. What quotation is made ? 

As prophetic time, how many real days does it 
make ? 
Ans. Seven days and a half. 

From his anointing by Mary, how many real 
days to the feast of the passover?* Deut. 16; 8. 

What day did he eat the feast with his dis- 
ciples ?* 

How many days to the morning of the resur- 
rection ?* 

What reference is made to Napoleon ?* 

14. What caused silence in heaven ? 
How did the half hour end ? 



*GQ&tfW* 



OKIGIN OF MATTEE. 



LESSON L. 



"All things were made by him ; and without him was not 
anything made that was made.'' — John 1: 3. 



1. Matter, as we find it, is generally undergoing 
changes. We know it as simple and compound, 
organized and unorganized. There is nothing in 
matter itself to necessitate eternity of existence. 
The assumption therefore that matter is eternal 
amounts to nothing. 

2. Some of the qualities, and all the changes of 
matter, argue against it. Nature stands opposed 
to an eternal series, since every series implies a 
first. All that we know of matter presents it 
under a series of changes. 

3. The inorganic earth presents abundant proof 
of growth, through chemical affinities. That 



276 ORIGIN OF MATTEE. 

which is true of our earth, is supposed to be 
essentially true of all other planets. This is 
opposed to eternity of matter. 

4. If matter is eternal, it should always have 
existed in its most perfect state, allowing of no 
changes. That which is eternal carries with it 
the necessary idea of perpetuity. Matter does 
not. Therefore, matter is not eternal. Such 
are the self-evident laws pertaining to all things 
known to be eternal. Matter cannot be an 
exception. 

5. God, Satan, space, duration and principles, 
are alike eternal ; but these have no gradation, 
growth or change in themselves. Matter pos- 
sesses all these. On the assumption that matter 
is eternal, it stands forth the exception to all 
known principles of eternity. 

6. The known principle of universal matter, 
inertia, forbids the changes of the heavens and 
the earth, without a cause outside of matter. 
Attraction of gravitation will account for the 
orbicular motion of planets, providing some 
other power has first given the centrifugal force, 
adequate to make the circle. "The heavens 
declare the glory of- God ; and the firmament 
showeth his handiwork." 

7 . If all the changes of matter could be accounted 
for on the principle of law, still an unsolved 
problem stands before us, from whence came 
matter in any form ? This question is answered 



ORIGIN OF MATTER. 277 

by revelation. " In the beginning God created 
the heavens and the earth," i. e. the matter com- 
posing them. 

8. All the inspired writers believed God to 
have been the author of creation. David saith, 
" When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy 
fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast 
ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of 
him ?" 

9. John, under the inspiration of superintend- 
ence, giving the works of Christ, declared that 
" All things were made by him." 

10. Paul writing under similar circumstances 
said : "For by him were all things created, 
that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible, 
and invisible." 

11. The heathen had not so far departed from 
truth as to lose this evident fact. Paul quoted a 
Grecian poet who said, "We are all his offspring." 

12. Both science and revelation join in ascrib- 
ing the creation of matter to God. The Bible 
tells us it was by God, as inspiritized. The 
same became our Saviour. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is said of matter ? 
How is matter divided ? 
Does the nature of matter force us to the con- 



278 OKIGIN OF MATTEE. 

elusion of its eternity ? 

What may be said therefore of all assumptions 
of its eternity ? 

Do not all forms of atheism assume its etern- 
ity?* 

2. What in matter argues against it ? 
To what does nature stand opposed ? 
What does every series imply ? 
How do we see matter ? 

3. From whence came the inorganic strata ? 
What analogy ? 

To what are these changes opposed ? 

4. On the assumption of its eternity, what ought 
to follow? 

What is true of all things eternal ? 
Does matter come within the definition? 
What is the conclusion ? 
What uniformity in all things eternal ? 
What is said of matter ? 

5. What is farther said ? 
How does matter differ ? 

If eternal, what would matter be ? 

6. What universal property of matter is men- 
tioned ? 

What does it forbid ? 

How far does gravitation account for planetary 
motion ? 

What other force must be accounted for ? 
What then is the most natural conclusion ?* 
What quotation is given ? Ps. 19: 1. 



ORIGIN OF MATTER. 279 

7. If this were settled, what remains ? 
How is this question answered ? 
What language is quoted ? Gen. 1:1. 
What does this mean ? 

8. What is said of all inspired writers ? 
What did David say ? 

9. What special inspiration was John under ? 
What did he declare ? 

10. What did Paul say ? 

Does not the invisible include the angels ? * 

11. What is said of ancient heathen ? 
W T hat quotation ? 

12. What is the conclusion ? 

Which manifestation was the first-born ? Col. 
1:15,16. 

What did he become? 



(5>S^O 



THE ABSUEDITY OF THE PLUTONIC 
THEOEY. 



LESSON LT. 



" For he hath founded the earth upon the seas, and estab- 
lished it upon the floods." — Ps. 24: 2. 



1. Most of our scientific works teach us that 
rock, in regard to origin, may be classified into 
igneous, metamorphic and aqueous. The plu- 
tonic idea of fire-made rock arises from a theory 
that this globe was at one time a molten sea of 
fire, or liquid lava. That it began to cool upon 
the surface, and that the process is still going on. 

2. To this theory we offer the folio wing objec- 
tions. The water belonging to our globe must 
have belonged to it then. Such heat would have 
converted the entire mass into steam, to rise in 



ABSURDITY OF THE PLUTONIC THEORY. 281 

heavy clouds to a cool strata of air, where it 
must have been suddenly condensed, and thrown 
upon the surface. 

3. As fast, therefore, as the outer surface cooled 
sufficiently to congeal, it must have been broken 
into minute fragments, by the cool water coming 
in contact with heated rock. This must have 
continued an indefinite time. But this is not 
the condition in which we find granite, nor any 
so-called Plutonic rock. 

4. If the crust, .under such disintegrating influ- 
ences, could have formed of sufficient thickness 
to haye borne up the water, then the sea must 
have extended all over the crust. Another diffi- 
culty here meets the Plutonian. Heat having 
expanded the matter of the earth, the cooling 
upon the inside of the crust must have caused a 
vacuum. This would have left the early crust 
weak, which must have given way, letting the 
ocean into the vacuum. General volcanic dis- 
turbance must have resulted throughout the 
globe. This is contrary to known geologic facts. 
In the earlier ages this planet was a stranger to 
volcanic influence. 

5. The Plutonic theory equally fails to account 
for volcanic action in modern times. Geologists 
assume that the crust of the earth is about fifty 
miles thick. Supposing the lava of volcanoes to 
come from the center, a force equal to a column 



282 ABSURDITY OF THE PLUTONIC THEORY. 

of fifty miles of melted rock, plus the height 
ejected into the air, must be accounted for. 

6. If this force was the gradual pressure of the 
earth's crust the flow of lava would be gradual 
and constant. But lava is generally thrown out 
in jets, sometimes rising to twenty thousand feet 
in the air. The general appearance is that these 
jets are caused by the expansiveness of steam. 
This is the generally assigned cause. 

7. It would be difficult to understand how water 
can find its way into the center through the fifty 
miles crust ; but if it were once there, the im- 
mense vacuum caused by the shrinkage of the 
earth's crust, would give ample room for any 
moderate quantity of water to be expanded into 
steam, without Causing pressure. 

8. But in case the ocean itself was largely poured 
into her bosom, until sufficient force was gener- 
ated to break fifty miles crust, this force would 
be diffused throughout the liquid mass and the 
strain would be felt at all parts of the earth's 
surface. Volcanoes are local. The whole theory 
therefore lacks support. 

9. The mercury in the thermometer has been 
observed to rise, as you descend into the earth, 
about one degree to every fifty-four feet. An 
inference has been drawn, that- at this rate, in 
fifty miles, all known substances would melt. 
Man has descended only a few hundred feet 
below the level of the sea. He can hardly ven- 



ABSURDITY OF THE PLUTONIC THEORY. 283 

ture so extensive a rule, from so small knowledge. 
He too much resembles the novice in numbers, 
who adds two and two, and squares two, and 
finding the results alike, makes a rule, that the 
addition of any number to itself equals the square 
of that number. 

10. Chemical action and mechanical pressure 
both cause heat. The increased temperature is 
therefore sufficiently accounted for, without 
involving us in such absurdities. People have 
been too hasty in embracing this theory of Plu- 
tonic fire. It resembles that credulity of the 
ancients, who placed hell in the center of the 
earth, and made it consist of literal fire ; who 
turning our Saviour's figures of speech into cor- 
poreal realities, made the gospel repulsive with 
the thought of unnecessary physical torture. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What do our scientific works teach us ? 
From whence came the idea of fire-made rock ? 

2. What are the following remarks designed 
for? 

What is said of water ? 

What would such heat have caused ? 

Having risen to the region of cold air, what ? 

3. What would have resulted ? 
Do we find granite thus formed ? 



284 ABSURDITY OF THE PLUTONIC THEORY. 

4 . Would a crust ever be likely to form in this 
way?* 

What would have become of all the metals 
held in solution in water ? * 

If formed, where would the ocean have been ? 

What farther ? 

What would have resulted from the cooling of 
its crust ? 

What influence on the crust ? 

What would' have resulted ? 

Was it so ? 

What is said of the earlier ages ? 

5. What farther objection ? 

How thick do geologists assume the earth's 
crust to be ? 
What must be the force ? 

6. What if it is the earth's pressure ? 
How is lava thrown out ? 

How high? 
How caused? 

7. What difficulty ? 
What if there ? 

8. What of great quantities? 
What is said of volcanoes ? 
What is the conclusion? 

9. What observation has been made as you 
descend ? 

How far has man descended ? 
What remark is made ? 



ABSURDITY OF THE PLUTONIC THEORY. 285 

What does he resemble ? 
10. What other principles might account for 
the increase of heat ? 

Have we sufficiently stopped to consider the 
theory ? 

What does it resemble ? 

W T here did many of the ancients locate hell ? 

How did they take our Saviour's figures of 
speech ? 

Is the hell described by our Saviour the less 
to be dreaded, because illustrated by figurative 
language ? * Matt. 25 : 41-46. 



O 



;©v£k 



OKIGIN OF VOLCANOES. 



LESSON LIT. 



"There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out 
of his mruth devoured ; coals were kindled by it." — Ps. 18: 8. 



1. It is not the nature of fire to create, but to 
separate or destroy. Hence it is the chosen 
emblem of the results of Satanic influences upon 
the human soul. Men burn with lust, burn with 
passion, burn with shame, and they will burn 
with condemnation. Under , the destroying 
nature of sin, we have the origin of the term hell 
fire. 

2. Metals lie in a fused state, somewhere 
beneath the earth's crust. Some kind of rock 
bemeath the crust must be a supporter of com- 
bustion. There is nothing in the granite, gneiss, 
mica slate, hornblende, quartz rock, clay slate, 



ORIGIN OF VOLCANOES. 287 

primary limestone, talcose slate, cambrian, upper 
silurian or old red sandstone, that will support 
combustion. We know that rock formed during 
the carboniferous system, will burn, which is not 
true of any rock formed since. Hence, a priori, 
we should reason that this is the system that 
originated volcanoes. 

3. Compressed steam is admitted to be of suffi- 
cient force, to account for both volcanic and 
earthquake action. Where, then, is this steam 
genera ed, and by what means compressed, for 
such terrible expansions? Reason points, at 
once, to the deposits, between the old red sand- 
stone and the permian, as the place where fires 
exist, originating the steam, resulting in the 
Upheaval of mountains, the raising of extensive 
plateaus, or in the lifting of the fiery jet to the 
clouds above. 

4. Here lies deposited the purple atmosphere, 
that once hung, like a bow of promise, com- 
pletely around our globe . Here lie those hidden 
oils, that once leaped from every hill, and trickled 
through every valley. 

5. Oil, mixed with organic matter, is known to 
ignite spontaneously. In the decompositions of 
the vegetable matter, deeply hidden with these 
oils, we have sufficient cause for the origin of 
volcanic fires. 

6. The carboniferous deposits are rightly situ- 
ated to give the greatest compression to steam. 



288 ORIGIN OF VOLCANOES. 

Steam must be heavily walled on every side, to 
give the necessary compressure, resulting in a 
force equal to the lifting of plateaus and moun- 
tains. 

7. Nearly all the volcanoes of the world are near 
some body of water. This is another proof that 
water is necessary to volcanic action. The very 
few that are situated inland, are supposed to be 
near some subterranean lake. It is now an open 
question, whether there are any inland volcanoes. 

8. Volcanoes frequently send forth hot mud 
and water. At times they have cast forth great 
quantities of fish, sometimes living fish. This 
all goes to show that volcanic action is caused by 
the sudden contact of water with heated rock. 

9. Where this power is spent within the earth's 
crust, the movement is called an earthquake. 
They are of three kinds, viz : horizontal, perpen- 
dicular and circular. 

10. But little idea can be formed of the 
enormous power of steam, when confined mid- 
way within the earth's crust. To say that it 
lifted the enormous plateau of Titicaca thirteen 
thousand feet above the level of the ocean, is 
only to give the height of a breadth of territory 
quite beyond the grasp of the mind to realize. 

11. It piled the Andes twenty-three thousand 
feet in the air. It lifted the mighty Himalaya 
twenty-nine thousand feet amid the clouds. It 
once broke up " all the fountains of the deep," 



ORIGIN OF VOLCANOES. 289 

and separated the earth's crust into fragments, 
"changing times and seasons." 

12. It is this power that has given the uneven 
contour to both hemispheres. Geologists tell us 
that all this work has been done since the car- 
boniferous period. It was this power, in Lot's 
time, that sunk the valley of the Jordan thirteen 
hundred feet below the level of the sea. 

13. It was this power, in Josiah's time, that 
elevated lower Mesopotamia, turning the head 
waters of the ancient Gihon river into the Eu- 
phrates, thus rendering Arabia an uninhabitable 
desert. In consequence of this, the route of 
travel from Babylon was turned northward, ful- 
filling Ezekiel's prophecy, that the Chaldean king 
should approach Tyrus from the north. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What cannot fire do? 
What is its nature ? 

Of what is it the chosen emblem ? 
How is the term applied to man ? 
How will they yet feel the force of this figure? 
What Bible term originated in the destroying 
nature of sin ? 

2. What is said of metals ? 

What must be true of some rock ? 
19 



290 ORIGIN OF VOLCANOES. 

What primary rock refuses to burn ? 
What do we know of carboniferous rock ? 
What is known of all formed since ? 
What is the conclusion, a priori ? 

3. What is the probable force ? 
What question is asked ? 

To what does reason point ? 

4. What lies deposited here ? 
What more ? 

5. When will oil spontaneously ignite ? 
What is going on beneath ? 

Of what is this sufficient cause ? 

6. What is farther said of carboniferous de- 
posits ? 

What is necessary to give great force ? 

7. Where do we find most volcanoes ? 
What does this show ? 

What of the few inland? 

8. What do they frequently send forth? 
What would this show ? 

9. What do we call the power, when spent 
within the earth's crust? 

How many kinds ? 

10. W]^at is said of such power ? 
What of Titicaca ? 



ORIGIN OF VOLCANOES. 291 

11. What of the Andes ? 
What of the Himalayas ? 
What did it do in Noah's time ? 

12. What farther ? 

Since what time has this been? 

How was the power shown in Lot's time? 

13. What river course did it turn? 

Through what country did this river run ?* 
Gen. 2:13. 

How did it affect the route from Babylon to 
the west? 

What prophecy was fulfilled ? Gen. 26: 7. 



&3)(o^ 



OKIGIN OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL 
LIFE. 



LESSON LIII. 



" And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and 
cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the 
earth after his kind." — Gen. 1: 25. 



1. Everywhere, from the cold snows of the 
Arctic circle to the burning suns of the Equator, 
from the surface of old ocean to its deepest sound- 
ings, nature abounds with vegetable and animal 
life. "We have animals of every conceivable 
form and size, from the spermaceti whale to the. 
smallest infusoria. 

2. It is difficult now to find an inch of earth's sur- 
face, or a drop of water that does not teem with 
organic life. It is very evident there was a time 
when there was none of them. 

3. The reproduction of organic life is . through 



OKIGIN OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL LIEE. 293 

cells ; but this does not account for its origin. 
A cell, or an egg, is an effect that must have had 
a first cause. That cause lies not within the 
known laws of matter. In proportion as we find 
marks of design, we must look for an intelligent 
designer. This cannot be found in matter. 

4. There must have been a first vegetable, and 
a first animal of every kind, since the cells of 

. each produce only their kind. The Creator of 
the first originated the whole. Many efforts 
have been put forth by professed scientists, to 
show that animal life may exist without a creator. 

5. The few imperfect experiments made, have 
not been sufficient to prove that an animal may 
live without a cause. They tell us that they have 
boiled water, and subjected weeds and hay, to 
more than boiling heat, and then corked them in 
bottles, but in a few days detected animal life. 

6. The first thought, perhaps, would be, that 
two, three, or four hundred degrees Fahrenheit 
would kill any infusoria, or their eggs. But it 
should be remembered that some animals will 
endure an incredible amount of heat ; even man 
has endured heat, higher than any employed in 
reported experiments upon infusoria. It would 
be absurd to contradict the plainest principles of 
reason, to gratify a skeptical heart, that we may 
reach a creation without a creator. 

7. If organic matter may at any time rise up 
and live, there is no limit to this kind of creation. 



294 OBIGIN OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL LIFE. 

No such local causes exist as to produce animals, 
or vegetables af a particular kind, in one region 
more than in any other of the same zone. 

8. Both plants and animals had their creation 
in particular localities. The migratory agencies 
that spread seeds are very numerous, yet some 
plants have never been disturbed in their native 
home. We instance a beautiful flower upon one 
of the islands in the Grecian Archipelago. It 
has been known for many hundreds of years, but 
only there. 

9. Similar remarks might be made concerning 
animals. These miscalled scientists would be at 
a loss to account for the facts of restricted local- 
ities to animals, as why the turkey should have 
been restricted to the western hemisphere, the 
kangaroo to Australia, or the grizzly bear to 
the western part of North America. 

10. The lama of South America, the orang- 
outang of the East Indies, the hippopotamus of 
Africa, and the chimpanzee, are also examples 
of animals confined to localities, from whence 
they have never emigrated. 

11. The development theory contradicts univer- 
sal observation. We have never observed a ay 
specimen of plants or animals in a state of tran- 
sition from one kind to' another. The most pro- 
found researches of geology have never discov- 
ered any in the past. The eagle of to-day builds 
his nest precisely as he did six thousand years 
ago. 



ORIGIN OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL LIFE. 295 

12. The migratory fish of the drift period differ 
in no respect from those of their kind to-day. 
Nothing is more sure than that each seed and 
animal produces after his kind. 

13. The origin of all these things is revealed in 
the Bible. God made all things in earth, air and 
sea, from the cedar of Lebanon, or the Big Trees 
of California, to the hyssop ; from the mammal 
to the polyp. 

14. No nearer approach to self creation, or 
spontaneous springing into life, is gained by the 
attempt to trace the higher orders of animals 
through the lower. It took the same power to 
make a hydra that it did to create an elephant. 
It took the same to create a fly as a man. All 
life is traced to the power of Infinity. "And 
without him was not anything made that was 
made." 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is said of life ? 

What is is said of the varieties of animal life? 

2. What would be difficult to find? 
What is evident ? 

3. Through what is life re-produced ? 
What is said of cells ? 

What is said of matter ? 



296 ORIGIN OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL LIFE. 

What stands in proportion ? 
Where is it not ? 

4. What must be true ? 
Why? 

What originated the whole V 
What have some tried to do ? 

5. What is said of their experiments ? 
What experiments do they recite to us ? 

6. What might be our first thought ? 
What makes it doubtful ? 

W'hat manifest absurdity would they teach ? 
What seems to be the object of skeptics ? 
What may be the motive ? 

7. What is farther said ? 
What is said of local causes ? 

8. What is said of plants and animals ? 
What of the means of spreading seeds ? 
Mention some ? * 

What is still true of some ? 

What instance ? 

Can you mention any ? * 

9. To what might similar remarks be applied ? 
What would perplex these men ? 

W T hat instances in America ? 

In Australia ? 

In Western America ? 

10. What other animals are instanced ? 

Is it probable that any of these animals were 
known to Noah ? * 



ORIGIN OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL LIFE. 297 

11. What does the development theory contra- 
dict? 

What have we never seen ? 

What science has failed to discover any ? 

What is said of the eagle? 

12. Of migratory fish ? 
What is evident ? 

13. Where is the origin of life revealed? 
Who is the author ? 

14. What is farther said of the development 
theory ? 

What of the power in the creation of the lower 
orders ? 

[ To whom must all life be traced? 
^What Scripture is quoted ? John 1:3. 



-cGGSPZ®* 



THE LAW OF PEOGEESS. 



LESSON LIV. 



" And God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply and 
replenish the earth, and subdue it ; and have dominion over 
the fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and. over 
every living thing thatmoveth upon the earth." — Gen. 1: 28. 



1. There is an important sense, in which both 
animals and vegetables are placed under the con- 
trol of man. Man has been the principal agent 
in spreading the different species throughout the 
earth. His skill is still more apparent in the 
improvements he has made by cultivation. 

2. Under his nursing care, the wild and hurtful 
parsnip becomes a wholesome vegetable. The 
wild potato becomes an esculent tuber of rare 
value. The wilderness is made to bud and 
blossom as the rose. The lily and rose both 



THE LAW OF PROGRESS. 



299 



bloom with greater fragrance, and add new 
beauty to their already charming faces. 

3. All the domestic animals improve under his 
hand. By judicious crosses, he has produced 
some improved kinds, but he has never succeeded 
to bring forward, even in this way, a new species 
that could propagate after its own kind. 

4. He knows of no law that will metamorphose 
one species into another of a distinct kind. Man 
is surrounded by a law, restricting his move- 
ments, and confining his efforts to improve what 
God has made, within the bounds God gave the 
species. They still produce after their kind. 

5. Animals of the Torrid Zone grow larger and 
are more ferocious than those of the temperate. 
When the earth was still warmer than now, it 
passed through an age of gigantia, noticed by 
Moses under the term whale. 

6. Animals show ability for sight-training, or 
object-teaching ; but they are evidently wanting 
in any higher reasoning faculty. None of them 
show the least moral nature. There is no ap- 
proximation to human intelligence. There is 
no growth in the law of instinct. 

7. The beavers of the present generation show 
no more skill than those of any former genera- 
tion. The migratory bird wings his flight, at 
six months of age, with the same unerring 
instinct, as those of many years. No intellectual 
training imparted to an animal, has enabled him 



300 THE LAW OF PROGEESS. 

to impart any superior quality to his offspring. 
Their condition is fixed by the Almighty, and 
man may not materially change it. 

8. The law of progress with man, rests upon 
a very different basis. Nature has given him the 
greatest adaptation to physical circumstances. 
He can live where the mercury in the thermome- 
ter falls seventy degrees below zero, or beneath 
the Torrid sun. The law of progress, developed 
from his moral nature, points, in opposite prin- 
ciples, to the widest divergence. 

9. Unlike the mere animal, the sphere of his 
greatest development has not been the Torrid, but 
the Temperate Zone. Still more unlike, his 
physical culture has ever been under the intel- 
lectual and moral. He cannot make progress as 
a mere animal. Another nature is given him, 
which must govern. 

10. Correct religious principle has ever been 
the lever to raise his being. In proportion to 
its perversion, his being becomes degraded. 
The first test for principle was that of fidelity to 
his God. Witness the contrast between Adam, 
in the garden while obedient, and his fratricidal 
son, as he uttered the disconsolate prophecy, 
that man would slay him at sight . 

11. Soon came the tests, of monotheism and 
polytheism. Witness the contrast between 
Noah and Sargon; Abraham and Sardanapalus ; 
Jacob and the Edomites; David and Jeroboam. 



THE LAW OF PROGRESS. 301 

12. We have witnessed this law of progress 
under Koman Catholic and Protestant Chris- 
tianity. England may be compared with Spain, 
Germany with Italy, the United States with 
Mexico, the North of Ireland with the South. 

13. A still better illustration of the law of pro- 
gress is seen in the Christian and infidel of the 
same family. Piety and alienation in the same 
individual, at different periods of life. True and 
manly worship, and profanity, drinking and 
Sabbath breaking, in the same neighborhood. 

14. These developing- lectures sometimes pre- 
sent us a list of human heads. Christianity loses 
nothing by the comparison. When we behold 
the ill-shaped heads of the Hottentot, the 
Papuan, the CafiVe, the Australian, the Hin- 
doo, and xifrican, we have a practical illustra- 
tion of what the belief of Darwin can do in the 
line of progress ; but alas ! it is backward. 

15. Christianity exerts an educational influence 
on the country where God is worshiped. Let 
the busts of the heads of the statesmen and mer- 
chants of America and England be shown in 
proof of it. Still better those of her Christian 
men in like positions ; truly, " By their fruits ye 
shall know them." The ill-shaped busts pre- 
sented to us as specimens of our ancestors, are 
really representatives of those believing in trans- 
migration, only another name for evolution. 



302 THE LAW OF PROGRESS. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What remark is made ? 

In what respect has he been the principal 
agent ? 

In what do we see his skill ? 

2. What is said of the wild parsnip ? 
The potato ? 

Where was it found wild ?*■ 
What of the wilderness ? 
What of the lily and the rose ? 

3. What is man's influence over animals ? 
What has he done ? 

What can he not do ? 

4. Of what is he ignorant ? 
With what is he surrounded ? 

After man has done all that he can, what does 
each animal still do ? 

5. What of animals of the Torrid Zone ? 
What different age is alluded to ? 
When was this ? 

How does Moses notice it? 

6. For what kind of teaching do animals show 
ability ? 

In what are they wanting ? 
Of what are they totally destitute ? 
Do they approximate toward man? 
What is said of instinct ? 

7. What is said of the beaver ? 



THE LAW OF PROGRESS. 303 

Of migratory birds ? 

What of all intellectual training ? 

What of their state? 

8. What of man ? 

To what is he physically adapted ? 

What of extreme zones? 

To what is his law of progress adapted? 

In different principles, to what does it point ? 

9. Where has been the sphere of his greatest 
development ? 

Under what is his physical culture placed ? 
What is said of him as an animal ? 
What of the other nature? 

10. What is the lever by which to raise his 
being ? 

What proportion is given ? 

What was the first test ? Gen. 2 : 16, 17. 

What contrast is given ? 

What prophecy did Cain utter ? Gen. 4 : 14. 

11. What other tests came ? 
What contrasts are presented ? 

12. Under what other contrasts have we 
witnessed the law of progress ? 

To what countries are you referred ? 
What is the wide difference between the North 
and South of Ireland ? * 

13. Where still better seen ? 
How seen in the same individual? 
In neighborhoods ? 



304 THE LAW OF PROGRESS. 

14. To what are we cited in these lectures on 
development ? 

What is said of Christianity ? 
What is the leading doctrine of degraded 
Pagans ? * 

Ans. Transmigration. 

What do these heads illustrate ? 

15. What influence does Christianity have upon 
a country ? 

What samples are presented educationally ? 

What in a Christian sense ? 

What Scripture is quoted ? Matt. 7 : 16. 

What is said of the lists of ill-shaped busts of 
human heads? 

What is transmigration ? 

How does it resemble the doctrine of evolu- 
tion. 



REVELATION ON CREATION. 



LESSON LV. 



" In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." 
-Gen. 1: 1. 



1. Nothing can be more natural than the ques- 
tions, whence am I, whence the globe we inhabit, 
and whence the diversified matter, of the uni- 
verse ? 

2. Since these questions, more or less, affect 
the happiness of man, and since, unaided, man 
can only settle them by conjecture, it would 
appear reasonable, that God would give some 
information on the subject, so far, at least, as to 
connect all things with himself. 

8. Moses, who made God his chief study for 
upwards of eighty years, seemed best qualified 
for the vision of creation. 

20 



306 REVELATION ON CREATION. 

4. With a very little suggestive aid from God, 
with the inspiration of superintendence over the 
accounts of tradition, Moses could have recorded 
the history of man. 

5. But this would not have satisfied the mind ; 
neither would it have sufficiently connected the 
material universe with God as Creator. 

6. He must go back of man's history to the 
region of geologic conjecture ; back of the exist- 
ence of rock, to the foundation upon which the 
earth rests ; back of the existence of the watery 
globe ; back of the existence of suns ; back of 
centripetal and centrifugal forces, to chaotic mat- 
ter, to uncombined and undescribed gases. 

7. Yea, he must go back of all forms of being, 
or matter, and swing out in the great void, as a 
floating center of space, to hear God speak mat- 
ter into existence. 

8. This, by the vision of the Almighty, he 
accomplished ; and there, as the only finite intel- 
ligence, the sons of the morning who shouted for 
joy excepted, he beheld, at the fiat of God, 
matter spring into existence. 

9. This he calls the beginning of the creation. 
This is man's only source of information upon 
the subject. Clearly, the subject, so far as is 
known, is a matter of pure revelation. 

10. Like other great prophecies, the true inter- 
pretation has depended upon the lights of science 
or history. So far, no established fact has con- 



REVELATION ON CREATION. 307 

tradicted the Mosaic record. Give us the light 
of science, and you give us the key to unlock 
the mysteries of this most wonderful of all 
books. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What question naturally arises in reference 
to your own existence ? 

What in reference to the globe we inhabit ? 
What in reference to matter in general ? 
Can the thoughtful avoid such questions ? 

2. Is our happiness affected by them ? 
Qan nature give a sufficient answer ?* 

How would God be likely to meet this desire 
for knowledge ? 

What would be the grand object of such reve- 
lation ? 

3. Would all persons be equally qualified as 
instruments of revelation ? 

Who appears to have been best qualified ? 
For how long time had he made God his study ? 
How near to God, at times, did he approach ? 
Dent. 34: 10. 

4. What wonld have enabled him to have suc- 
cessfully written man's history? 

What is the inspiration of superintendence ? * 
What kinds of inspiration must have entered 
into the vision of creation? 



308 KEVELATION ON CREATION. 

How many generations intervened between 
Adam and Moses ? * Luke 3. 

Through how many persons must the story of 
our first parents have passed to reach Moses ? 

Ans. About eight. 

5. Would this history satisfy the inquiring ? 
Would this have afforded the proper connec- 
tion between matter and its Maker ? 

As it is, do not some labor to disconnect mat- 
ter from God ? * 

6. Where must he go in the vision ? 

Have geologists the means to establish data in 
the different formations ? * 

Can they establish the order of the formations?. 

Will this do for the beginning ? 

What is the foundation upon which the earth 
rests ?* Ps. 24:2. 

Had Moses now reached the beginning ? 

Of what was our planet composed, when it 
first assumed its globular form ? * Gen. 1:9. 

Would this be the beginning ? 

What is centripetal force ? * 

What is centrifugal force ? * 

With matter in the shape of gas, in chaos, 
would there be any center of attraction ? * 

What seems to have been the first centers 
formed ? ' 

7. Did Moses reach the commencement of mat- 
ter, when he viewed it in its gaseous form ? 



REVELATION ON CREATION. 309 

What relation to space would he hold in such 
a position ? 

8. Did he succeed to reach the commencement 
of matter ? 

In doing so had he reached the beginning of 
finite intelligence ? * 

Did he need this position in order to inform 
us of the origin of matter ? * 

What did he behold ? 

9. What did he call this ? 

Upon what is the world dependent for knowl- 
edge on this subject? 

Have we any thing to disprove this record ? 

10. Upon what has its true interpretation much 
depended ? 

Have we anything to compare with it ? * 
Have we not the best reasons to implicitly 
believe it ? 

Ought the Bible student to dread the unfold- 
ing of science ? * 



^<sfi/2AS5,9sv 



THE SCKIPTUKAL ACCOUNT OF THE 
CKEATION. 



LESSON LVI. 



" All things were made by him." — John 1: 3. 



1. The allusions in the Scriptures to angels, 
seem to place the beginning of their existence be- 
fore the existence of matter. They are supposed 
to possess spiritual, immaterial forms. 

2. Allusion is made to one inspiritized form 
among them, who was the ''first begotten," and 
"only Son." In him dwelt the fulness of God. 
This form constitutes the means of approach 
for spiritual beings, to the unseen spirit, God. 

3. Angels trace their origin to this being, and 
know him, as the one through whom God peo- 
pled a spiritual world ; and through whom he 
afterward, created the material universe. 



SCBIPTUEAL ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION. 311 

4. They were together and sang at creations 
birth. A most beautiful allusion is made by Job 
to them, " When the morning stars sang together, 
and all the sons of God shouted for joy." 

5. Moses was carried back, by the power of the 
spirit, that he might witness the beginning of 
matter, and that he might note in the aggregate 
the grand order of its changes. 

6. God spoke, and the larger centers of attract- 
ion were formed, uniting those gases which, in 
their combinations, would become luminous. 
And light was born. 

7. These suns were trillions of miles distant 
from each other, lighting up the firmament as 
centers of so many systems, as yet unformed, 
commencing their orbicular circuits, and carry- 
ing along in their pathway all other matter as 
nebulous ether. 

8. With the creation of matter commenced the 
march of time. Time is divided into six periods 
called days. Possibly each day includes a great 
central revolution. 

9 . Descriptive of the order of the work performed, 
these days are called evening and morning, i. e. 
the un combined state, and combining state, with- 
in a specified relation are called a day. 

10. The first period, included chaos as evening, 
and the creation of suns, with the establishment 
of their revolution around the grand center as 
morning. And the evening and the morning were 
the first day. 



312 SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION. 
QUESTIONS . 

1. Where do Scriptural allusions place the 
beginning of angels ? 

What are they supposed to possess ? 
What is their grade compared to man ?* Heb. 
2:7. 

2. What particular allusion to one inspiritized 
form ? 

What dwelt in him ? 

Of what service was this form to angels ? 
Viewed as a form of being, what was he ? 
In what sense was he God?* 

3. To whom do the angels trace their existence ? 
What do they know him to be ? 

What does the apostle say ? John, 1:3. 

4. What part had angels in the work of creation ? 
Under what fig ares did Job present them ? 
How came anything known of these beings?* 
By whose agency was the age of types and 

shadows parfected ? Heb. 2: 2; Acts 7: 53. 

5 . By what means was Moses carried back to 
the beginning ? 

For what purpose ? 

Does the Bible show that the purpose was 
accomplished?* 

6. What was the first step toward the organiza- 
tion of matter ? 

What were attracted thither ? 

What was the result? 

What are our present sources of light ?* 



SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION. 313 

7. What is the relative position of suns to each 
other ? 

What is the position of each to the planets of 
that system ? * 

Do suns have an orbicular motion, with refer- 
ence to a grand center ?* 

What influence in revolving, would each sun 
have over all the matter of its own system ? 

In what condition was all the matter of our 
system, except the sun, during the first period ? 

8. What commenced with the creation of matter ? 
Into what is time divided ? 

What did Moses call these periods ? 
What may each day contain ? 

9. For what purpose are they called evening 
and morning ? 

What would evening represent ? 
What would the morning ? 

10. What was the evening of the first day ? 
What was the morning ? 

Have these periods ever been mistaken for 
twenty-four hours each ? * 



S)^^>0 



THE SCEIPTUEAL ACCOUNT OF THE 
CREATION. 



LESSON LVII. 



*• For He hath founded the earth upon the seas, and estab- 
lished it upon the floods." Psalm 24: 2. 



1. When Moses, in the vision, entered the 
second period, his attention was directed to the 
remaining matter of our system, then floating in 
chaos, and particularly to that portion which 
should constitute earth. 

2. The electric spark, from the Almighty was 
about to unite that vast sea of hydrogen with its 
equivalent of oxygen. The Spirit of the Lord 
was about moving upon the face of the waters. 

3. He spake and it was done. The usual phe- 
nomena seems to have followed, viz: heat and 
expansion. There was no separation of waters. 
It was one vast cloud of superheated steam, con- 
densing yet resisting. 

4. Slowly, but steadily, it was condensed to a 



SCULPTURAL ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION. 315 

watery nucleus and the waters below the firma- 
ment were distinct from those above ; and a 
globe of water was established in its rotary 
motion. 

5. The work of the second period was doubt- 
less largely occupied in the formation of sub- 
marine rock; but to it's close none appeared 
above the surface. 

6. The assumption that matter was first in a 
molten state, only needing to be cooled to be 
formed into rock, is one perhaps in keeping with 
Grecian poetry, but unworthy of a Christian age. 

7. , There is no evidence to believe that ever a 
particle of rock was created by fire. True, great 
lava beds exist, which were once in a state of 

.fusion; but fusing metal does not account for its 
origin. It is not the nature of fire to create. 

8. Nearly all the formations are known to be 
aqueous deposits. All the coarser formations, 
even the granite, under different processes, have 
been imitated by art, without the use of fire. 
Some can only be formed under immense 
hydraulic pressure. 

9. The non-stratified appearance of granite, 
may be sufficiently accounted for, on the grounds 
of its being the first deposit; and that it was 
rapidly made, immediately after the separation 
of the waters into a distinct globe. 

10. Moses made no mention of the agency 
of fire in creation ; which on the assumption of a 
molten globe of rolling fire, seems unaccountable. 



316 SCRIPTUKAL ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION. 
QUESTIONS. 

1. Into what period are we about to follow 
Moses ? 

To what did God now call his attention? 
What henceforth, in particular, engaged his 
attention? 

2. What grand explosion was he to witness ? 
Do these gases unite without the aid of fire ?* 
What would be the result of the union of a 

large quantity ? 

Ans. A high degree of heat. 

In what shape would water be if thus created?* 

How many times must steam be condensed to 
be liquified? 

Ans. 1700 times. 

3. Had the earth as yet any form ? Gen. 1:2. 
What phenomena followed the cooling of vast 

quantities of steam ?* 

In what shape or condition would it be found? 

4. What position to surrounding gases would 
liquid water hold ? 

What is the natural shape of a mass of water 
coming together in the void of space?* 

What would the cooling of this mass of steam 
result in ? 

5. What was largely the work of the second 
period ? 

Had any rock as yet appeared' above the sur- 
face of the water ? Gen. 1:9. 

How would the weight of stone decrease as it 
sunk into the ocean ? 



SCRIPTUEAL ACCOUNT OF THE CEEATION. 317 

Ans. As the distance from the center of the 
earth decreased. 

What effect is produced upon water at a great 
depth by the pressure of water above?* 

How deep would granite have to sink, to find 
its own specific gravity? 

Ans. About ten miles. 

6. Have we good reasons to believe that the 
earth was first a molten mass of liquid rock ? 

7. Have we any evidence that any rock was 
originally made by fire ? 

Is not liquid lava a melted substance, much of 
it being previously rock?* 

Is it the nature of fire to create ?* 

8. Of what are nearly all the formations known 
io be the result ? 

Have not the so-called igneous rocks, by means 
of water, been imitated in art ? 

9. If granite is formed by water, how is its 
non-stratified appearance accounted for ? 

10. Did Moses make any mention of the agency 
of fire, in the formation of the earth ? 

If fire was the chief agent, can we account 
-for this ? 

Does the fact of the increase of temperature of 
the earth, one degree for each fifty-four feet, 
warrant the belief in a burning center ?* 

Do the existence of volcanoes prove anything 
in respect to the center?* 

Have not the Scriptures declared the earth 
founded on the seas ? Psalm 24: 2. 



THE SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT OF THE 
CREATION. 



LESSON LVIII. 



" And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Le- 
banon even nnto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall ; 
he spake also of beasts and of fowl, and of creeping things, 
and of fishes."— 1 Kings 4: 83. 



1. Daring the second period immense deposits 
were made, but all submarine, and subjected, 
while yet plastic, to untold hydrostatic pressure. 

2. The sea has ever been an extensive chemical 
laboratory, but in the earlier ages, it must have 
been especially so ; then the gases were abundant 
huugry for combination. 

3 . The first deposits of the sea, were of those 
constituents, which combine in mica, quartz and 
feldspar. At first but a trifle heavier than water, 
they would soon find their own specific gravity 
at a small depth, where they would float as the 
foundation of after deposits. 

4. Succeeding deposits made their downward 



SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION. 319 

pressure. At each descent, the water beneath 
increased its upward resistance. Thus the entire 
hypozoic rock described by Sedgwick, was formed, 
or all that, containing no organic remains. 

5. Some of this rock must have remained in a 
plastic state for untold ages, as is attested by 
numerous injected dikes of granite, basalt, or 
greenstone, into rock far above. 

6. At the end of the second period portions of 
this rock began to appear at the surface, which 
must then have extended thirty miles into the 
ocean. 

7. Here commenced the existence of organic 
matter. Hitchcock, Lyell Miller and others, tell 
us that the depth of organic remains exceeds a 
thickness of ten miles; yet they suggest that traces 
of untold ages of the grasses may have been ob- 
literated by metamorphic action. 

8. The first traces of organic matter were sub- 
marine plants ; higher up are terrestiial plants, 
but for a long way only the cryptogamia, or 
flowerless plants ; which could mature without 
clear sunlight. 

9. Up to the close of the third period, and 
for long ages after, the atmosphere did not 
allow the sun to shine upon the earth ; and 
the vegetation, though rank, perfected its 
fruit, like the fern, by the expansion of some 
portion of its leaf. In the language of Moses, 
"Vegetation was a kind whqse seed was in 
itself." 



320 SCKIPTUKAL ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION. " 
QUESTIONS. 

1. What changes must have been made during 
the second period ? 

When were these deposits made ? 

Does not water increase in gravity underpress- 
ure?* 

Would any deposit sink farther than to water 
of its own specific gravity ? * 

To what have all the lower strata been sub- 
jected? 

2 . What must have been true in the earlier ages ? 
Was the atmosphere then the same as now? 
Would the air then have sustained animal life ? 
If it would, had food been prepared for them ? 

3. What was the nature of the first deposits? 
Do not the circumstances of condensation 

greatly vary the weight of stone? 

Where would the resistance of the water equal 
the weight of a descending body ?* 
Ans. where its specific gravity equaled. 

What relation would the first deposits hold to 
those afterward made ? 

4. What would be the effect of after deposits of 
the same weight ? 

As any substance shall be pressed below its 
own specific gravity, what would be the influence 
of the water beneath? 

What does hypozoic rock mean as described 
by Sedgwick? 

5. Do we ever now find primitive rock in hori- 
zontal layers ? 



SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION. 321 

Does it always underlie after formations ? * 
On the ground that granite was of aqueous 

formation, how can we account for granite dikes 

ejected into other stone ? 

6. What happened at the close of the second 
period ? 

How deep must it have been? 
Ans. About thirty miles. 

7. What commenced here ? 

What is the estimated depth of the deposits 
containing organic remains ? 

Is it known that the remains now found, extend 
to the beginning ? 

How may the remains of grasses have been 
entirely obliterated ? 

8. What is the character of the lowest remains 
found ? 

Above these what next appears ? 

To what grand division do all the lower orders 
of vegetation belong ? 

What advantage had this class over the flower- 
ing kind? 

9. At the close of the third period, had the sun 
shone upon the earth ? Gen. 1 : 15. 

How does such vegetation perfect its fruit? 
Does revelation, thus far, accord with the facts 
as now discovered ? * 



21 



REVELATION AND THE CARBON- 
IFEROUS PERIOD. 



LESSON LIX. 



" When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick 
darkness a swaddling band for it. Job 38 : 9. » 



1. At the close of the second period great 
quantities of carbonic acid gas had been taken 
from the air in the formation of primitive rock ; 
but it was reserved to vegetation to tame this 
giant foe to animal life, and to lock it up in store- 
houses, in the shape of bituminous coal and 
crude oils. 

2. At the close of the third period, still greater 
changes had taken place in the air, earth and sea. 
The vegetation of untold ages had been deposited 
upon the ground, rich with organized carbon, 
and dripping with oil. The earth would seem a 
match, ready for ignition. 



REVELATION AND CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD. 323 

3. The deep purple atmosphere of carbonic 
acid gas, then enveloping the earth for miles in 
height, served as a medium, for conveying to 
plants the actinism of light. 

4. Carbonic acid ever eager to unite with veg- 
etation, was then greatly aided to do so. It also 
served as a guard against combustion of every kind, 
hence, there were no volcanoes then. An atmos- 
phere of carbonic acid gas will not support com- 
bustion. Geologists place the commencement 
of volcanoes at a later date. 

5. The depositing of carboric acid gas occupied 
the most of three periods, viz : The second, third 
and fourth, nor was the carbonic acid disposed of 
sufficiently for a continuation of uninterrupted 
animal life, until the close of the fourth. 

6. The Biblical distinction of this period, is 
that wherein the atmosphere had become so far 
changed as to admit the rays of the sun upon 
the earth. The organic changes wrought upon 
the earth are not noted. 

7. Moses' attention seemed directed to the 
heavens during this entire period; his language 
would indicate more a prophetic view of what 
the sun, moon and stars would be to the nations, 
than of any real design in their creation. Man- 
kind have generally used them for signs, seasons, 
days and years. 

8. The primary design of the fixed stars could 
not be for light, or for signs to the inhabitants 



324 EEVELATION AND CAKBONIFEEOUS PEEIOD. 

of earth. Neither can the earth's motion, and 
the orbicular circuit of the sun and moon be 
computed as part of the same measurement of 
time; nor can either be made an exact multiple of 
days. We make the earth's axillary motion the 
basis of our unit of time, The rest are fractional. 

9. The substance then of Moses' language is, 
that God made the sun, moon, and stars, as well 
as the earth, and that the earth began to receive 
its most salutary influence from the heavenly 
bodies, during the fc irth period. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What had taken place at the close of the 
second period ? 

How does carbonic acid gas affect water con- 
taining lime?* 

What part had carbonic acid in the formation 
of primitive limerock ? 
<_: With what does it readily unite ?* 

To what is carbonic acid gas a foe? 

What is the combustible ingredient of coal ? * 

What of coal oil? 

2. What still greater changes had taken place 
at the close of the third period ? 

What was the character of the vegetation of 
this period?* 



REVELATION AND CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD. 325 

In what element was it particularly rich ? 

To what would the earth, covered with carbon- 
ated substance, be subject, as soon as flame could 
be supported ?* 

3. With what was the earth enveloped at this 
time? 

What was then the prevailing color of light? 
What influence would this have on plants ?* 

4. What gas readily combines with vegetation ? 
Against what would a surrounding atmosphere 

of carbonic acid gas guard the earth ? 

Were there any volcanoes then ? 

Is this gas a supporter of combustion ? 

Does the time of the existence of volcanoes 
agree with this hypothesis ? 

5. How many periods did it take to deposit the 
carbonic acid of the air ? 

Which of these had the aid of sun light ?* 
While carbonic acid gas was abundant, could 
animals requiring oxygenated blood exist ?* 

6. What is the Biblical distinction of this 
period ? 

Are the earth's changes during this period 
noted by Moses? 

To what are we now confined for a record of 
these changes ?* 

7. To what was Moses' attention directed? 
In what sense is his speech to be taken ? 



326 REVELATION AND CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD. 

Fov what have the nations used the heavens ? 

8. Could the stars have been made to give us 
light ? 

Were they made for the uses to which they had 
been put?* 

Can the motions of the sun, moon, and stars, be 
explained as parts of the same computation of 
time? 

Can either be made an exact multiple of days ? 

What is the basis of our division ? 

9. What is the substance of Moses' record of 
the fourth period? 

May we not here find the basis for an explana- 
tion of metamorphic action ?* 



REVELATION AND CARBONIFEROUS 
PERIOD. 



LESSON LX. 



" There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out 
of his mouth devoured : coals were kindled bv it."— Ps. 18: 8 



1. Geologists speak of^ great changes wrought 
in the earth by means of heat, which was tempo- 
rary, but general. 

2. Portions of the earth's crust are a compound 
of vitrified cinders, or slag rock, the result of 
being burned over. Other portions give evidence 
of change by metamorphic action, sometimes 
crystallized, as in gneiss, sometimes melted as in 
lava. 

3. Whole sections are covered with this rock, 
where no volcanic action can be traced. 



328 REVELATION AND CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD. 

4. Portions of the sea attest that the fish of 
extensive sections have been suddenly extermi- 
nated ; the position of their petrified forms, 
showing that thej died in extreme agony. New 
races of animals succeed each other and then 
generally disappear, until, after some thirty revo- 
lutions in the commencement of the animal king- 
dom, the sea and air had become changed, so as 
to allow a continuance of races to the present. 

5. The evidence exists that the earth has been 
many times burned over, and that subterranean 
fires have been kindled some of which are still 
burning within the earth's crust resulting in vari- 
ous upheavals called volcanoes and earthquakes. 

6. Such a result would naturally follow the 
phenomena of the fourth period. The absorption 
of carbonic acid gas from the air in mineral and 
vegetable substance would gradually prepare the 
air for a race, cold of blood, and slow in respira- 
tion, until the air was sufficiently pure for the 
support of flame, when both vegetables and rock, 
rich in carbon, would burn, and everything would 
be subject to intense heat. 

7. Great portions of the carbon, previously 
organized into the earth's crust would now unite 
with oxygen and escape in the cloud. The sun 
would again be obscured. ■ 

8. The actinism of light would again be brought 
to bear upon a newly created race of vegetation 



REVELATION AND CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD. 329 

until the carbonic acid gas should be generally 
disposed of, when the burning scene would again 
be re-enacted. 

9. This period sufficiently accounts for the 
change of large fields of bituminous coal to 
anthracite, as in eastern Pennsylvania ; also for 
the depth and extent of oil wells, which must 
have been caused by the natural tendency to 
sink into the crevices of the earth, caused by the 
mighty upheavals of its crust daring such con- 
flagration. 

10. Not until the close of the fourth period, 
had the oils been hid away, and the carbonated 
vegetation covered up from the danger of flame 
so as to allow a continuation of the animal race. 
Hence the Mosaic account of the commencement 
of fish and fowl. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. Of what great changes in the rock do geolo- 
gists speak ? 

To what agency do they attribute these changes? 
What is the general name given to these 
changes ?* 

2. Of what are portions of the earth's crust 
composed ? 

What changes have been wrought in gneiss ? 



330 REVELATION AND CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD." 

3. Have we any evidence of melted rock caused 
by surface heat ? 

4. What evidence of great and sudden changes 
in the sea? 

What would be the most natural positions of 
fish expiring in hot water ? 

What is the history of the earlier animals as 
seen by petrification ? 

How many times is it supposed the earth be- 
came revolutionized by fire ? 

What final result would be reached in these 
changes? 

5. What evidence have we, corroborating this 
hypothesis? 

What would result to large portions of exposed 
oils and oleaginous subs ances in atmosphere 
cleared of carbonic gas ? . * 

6 . What phenomena of the fourth period did 
Moses record ? Gen. 1. 16, 17. 

What class of animals could endure the semi- 
purified air ? 

7. In case of conflagration what becomes of 
exposed carbon ? 

What effect would again be produced on the 
atmosphere ? 

8. In what would this result? 
What scene would be repeated ? 



REVELATION AND CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD. 331 

9. What light does this throw upon the origin 
of anthracite coal ? 

How would such an extensive conflagration 
be likely to affect the earth ? 

What would become of large quantities of free 
oil? 

10. At what time had these oils become suffi- 
ciently hid in the earth ? 

What has produced the difference between the 
bituminous and anthracite coal regions ? * 

Where do the Scriptures place the date of the 
commencement of our present animal kingdom ?* 
Gen. 1:20. 



BEVELATION AND THE ANIMAL 
KINGDOM. 



LESSON LXI. 



u But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee ; and 
the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee, and the fishes of 
the sea shall declare unto thee."— Job. 12: 7, 8, 



1. The deposits of the carboniferous, permian, 
triassic, lias and oolitic systems speak to us of 
extinct ganoids and placoids, once inhabiting 
every lake, river, and sea. 

2. These fish widely differed from the occupants 
of our present seas', in appearance, form, and 
habits. Many of them were armed with a bony 
coat of mail, forming a strong encasement over 
the entire body. Their enameled scales were 
proof against all efforts to devour, except as put 
forth by animals with massive jaws. Their 



REVELATION AND THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 333 

means of defence, and for escape corresponded 
with the carnivorous age in which they were 
reared. 

3. Hugh Miller tells us that at one time the 
" Ganoids were co-extensive with every river, lake 
and sea, and endured during the unreckoned 
eons, which extended from the times of the 
lower red sandstone until those of- the chalk." 

4. These were destined to give place to a much 
higher but far less ferocious class of fish, more 
adapted to the renovated waters and partially 
purified atmosphere of the coming ages. This 
was accomplished, not by their prowess, but by 
the revolutions of nature. 

5. On entering the fifth Bible period, Moses 
saw the sea swarming with fish, now the repre- 
sentatives of an enduring race. Their remains 
are found from the permian period upward. A 
few representatives of these ancient races, such 
as the shark and sturgeon, are still found. 

6. Three entire geologic -periods pass before we 
trace the remains of ctenoid and cycloid orders of 
fish. This shows that the change from the lower 
to the higher orders was slow, and r yet marked 
by the creation of a new kind. There never has 
been a metamorphosis of one kind of fish into 
those of another kind. 

7. The time of these unreckoned ages, during 
which the air and sea were rapidly being depos- 
ited upon the ground, attests the fact, that the 



334 REVELATION AND THE ANIMAL KINGDOM". 

earlier air and water were loaded with noxious, 
deadly elements. The most deadly foe to animals 
requiring large quanities of oxygen, was carbonic 
acid gas. This belted the earth to a great 
height. The entire solid substance of the earth 
to the age of man, measures, by calculation, from 
thirty to fifty miles in depth, every particle of 
which once floated in air or water. 

8. The upheavals of all countries demonstrate 
that birds were the first warm blooded animals. 
They form the connecting link between reptiles 
and mammals. We should naturally look for 
them soon after the carboniferous deposits. 
The lowest remains of birds are found in the 
permian, but few below the triassic. Moses 
places them in the fifth Bible period, after the 
light of the sun was let in upon the earth. 

9. Each kind of animal seems to have had its 
gigantic representative in the earlier periods. 
The elephant of former times was twice the 
size of those of the present day. The Irish elk 
stood twelve feet high. Bears, wolves, lions and 
tigers exceeded any that now roam the forest. 
Numerous species of animals have entirely per- 
ished^ among which may be enumerated the 
mastodon, the deinotherium and the megatheri- 
um, animals of stupendous proportions, com- 
pared with which, the elephant and hippopota- 
mus are mere pigmies. 

10. Miller, in his "Testimony of the Kocks," 



REVELATION AND THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 335 

alludes to a fossil bird, whose thigh bone was six- 
teen inches in length and three inches in diameter. 
This bird stood twelve feet high, its body being 
the size of a common horse. A cast of its egg 
now in the hand of Dr. Warren of Boston, Mass., 
measures thirteen and a half inches in diameter 
Again, on page 115, he says ; " There are tridac- 
tyle foot prints, in the red sandstone of Connec- 
ticut, that measure eighteen inches in length, 
from the heel to the inner toe, and which indi- 
cate, from their distance in a straight line, a stride 
of six feet in the creature that impressed them 
in the ancient sands." 



QUESTIONS. 

1. In what systems do we find extinct placoids 
and ganoids ? 

What is said of them ? 

Are the first creations of these fish now rep- 
resented in the sea ?* 

2. How are they compared with those now 
existing ? 

With what were they armed ? 
What advantage in bony scales ? 
What of their means of defence and escape ? 
Is not the benevolent law of adaptation every- 
where seen in the works of God?* 

Is this the same as the law of restoration?* 



336 REVELATION AND THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. " 

3. What does Miller say of the ganoids ? 
How many geologic systems does this embrace? 
Ans. Eight- 
Are geologic periods the same divisions as the 

six days of Moses ?* 

Are ganoids good for food ?* 

4. To what were they destined ? 
How was this accomplished ? 

If prowess and strength shaped the law of 
progress, would not carni\ r ori rule the seas ?* 

5. On entering the fifth period, what did Moses 
behold ? 

Are any representatives of these fish now 
found ? 

What is the size of our largest shark ?* 
How large is a full sized sturgeon ?* 

6. How many geologic periods pass before we 
are introduced to a new class of fish ? 

What are these called ? 
What does this show ? 

Do fish metamorphose from one kind to 
another ? 

7. What is said of the changes of this time ? 
What gas forbade the existence of warm 

blooded animals ? 

Until after the carboniferous period, what 
must have surrounded the earth ?* Job 28 : 9. 

What was the probable depth of the earth's 
crust at man's creation ? 

Where was it once ? 



REVELATION AND THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 337 

Does not water yet hold much material that 
may be consolidated into stone or earth ? 

From whence does the earth now derive its 
deposits ?* 

8. What were the first warm blooded animals ? 
What did they form ? 

Where should we expect to find them ? 

9. What is said of each kind ? 
What of the elephant? 
What of the Irish elk? 
What of other beasts? 
What of numerous species ? 
Give some of their names ? 

How would our largest animals compare with 
them? 

10. What account is given of giant birds ? 
How long was the thigh bone ? 

How large ? 

What the size of its body ? 
Who has a cast of its egg ? 
How large ? 

What account of tridactyle foot prints ? 
How large the foot ? 
How long the stride ? 

What is the computed height of these birds ? 
Do we not recognize the destructive qualities 
of animals, prior to the introduction of sin?* 



22 



KEVELATION AND THE ANIMAL 
KINGDOM. 



LESSON LXII, 



"And (Jod created great whales and every living creature 
that moveth, which the waters brought forth abnndantly 
after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind." Gen. 
1:21. 



1. Birds in company with reptiles occupied this 
earth for untold ages before mammals were 
created. Their remains are traced in the per- 
mian, triassic, lias, oolite, welden and chalk, 
before' the whale had, an existence. These 
strata aggregate a thickness of more than five 
thousand feet; 'still the shepherd of Midian 
traces them, and gives their fauna, with all the 
exactness of the most learned geologist. 

2. Between the o viperous animals and the pla- 
cental mammals there seems to have been a 



KEYELATION AND THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 339 

very wide step. Naturalists speak of an inter- 
mediate class, which, while they were not 
oviperous, yet produce their young in such an 
imperfect state, as to require a much longer time 
to be developed to a maturity, corresponding to 
other mammals at birth, than it takes to equally 
mature many animals hatched from eggs. 

3. These singular creatures are called marsu- 
pials. They nourished in the latter part of the 
oolitic and the first part of the tertiary. With 
the exception of the opossum of the United 
States, they have disappeared from both conti- 
nents. A few species' are found in Australasia, 
among which, most prominent, is the kangaroo. 

4. Placential mammals are not found until the 
tertiary. This is the period in which flourished 
the gigantia of animals. The term " whale," 
with Moses, may have designated these animals 
in general. 

5. Giants were neither the first nor the last of a 
species. There is no steady law of progress in 
any kind of animal, an argument strongly against 
the Darwinian theory. The first fish were not 
large, but there followed a period in which huge 
carnivori, still larger than the white shark of the 
Mediterranean, reigned king of fish. They dis- 
appeared, and new and smaller kinds took their 
places. 

6. Kep tiles are found before the carboniferous 
period, but the giants of this order did not reign 



340 KEVELATION AND THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. * 

until the triassic and lias. Here we find the tall 
and bulky megalosaurus, as rapacious as the 
tiger, as heavy as the elephant. Here we meet 
with the terrible ichthyosaurus with eyes eighteen 
inches in diameter, and with jaws sufficient to 
crush an ox at one mouthful. These have disap- 
peared and inferior races take their -places. 

7. Birds existed from the latter part of the car- 
boniferous system ; but gigantic fowl did not 
flourish until the oolitic and the first of the ter- 
tiary. Fowl exist but the giants are 
numbered with the tin g of the past. 

8. Beasts and quadrupeds have existed since 
the oolitic, but gigantic quadrupeds did not take 
possession of the earth until near the tertiary. 
As many as three kinds of mammoth oxen 
existed, wild and roaming the plains. • Beasts 
and cattle still exist, but far inferior to those of 
former periods. 

9. Among men, races of giants have existed ; 
but they were not the first, nor do they exist to- 
day . There has been no steady progress from 
the inferior to the superior, nor deterioration 
from the superior to the inferior. 



questions. < 

1. What is said of birds ? 
What is a mammal ? 
Which creation is the older, birds. or reptiles? 



REVELATION AND THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 341 

Under what name did Moses include both fish 
and reptiles ? * Gen. 1 : 20. 

In what are their remains traced ? 

What is the aggregate thickness of these strata ? 

Had the whale an existence then ? 

Who was the Shepherd of Midian?* 

What is said of him ? 

What is the meaning of fauna ? 

2. What are oviperous animals ? * 
What is said of the time here ? 

What has been the average depth of deposits 
each year for the last forty centuries? 
Ans. About four-hundredths of an inch. 

Beckoning the rate even at four-tenths of an 
inch, how long would it take to deposit five 
thousand feet ? * 

What do naturalists speak of? 

3. What aro these creatures called ? 
When did they flourish ? 

What has become of them ? 

What one species remains with us ? 

Do any exist in the eastern continent ? 

Where might we find them? 

Which is most noted ? 

4. Where are mammals found ? 
What is the whale ? 

Of what is the tertiary period prolific ? 
What is said of the term whale, as used by 
Moses ? 

5. What is said of giants ? 



342 KEVELATION AND THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 

What of progress ? 
Against what does this argue ? 
What is said of the first fish ? 
What of a succeeding period ? 
What followed ? 

Do the same kind of fish become giant, and 
then dwarfs ?* 

6. Where are reptiles found ? 
What do we find here ? 
What else do we meet with ? 
What change has taken place ? 

What are some of the larger reptiles of the 
present day ? * 

7. From what period have birds existed? 
Where are giant birds found? 

- What may be said of them now ? 

8. Since what period have beasts and quadru- 
peds existed? 

At what period do we find giants ? 
How many kinds of mammoth oxen ? 
What may be said of them now ? 

9. What is said of giant men ? 
Was Adam a giant ? 

What does Moses say of them ? * Gen. 6:4. 
What did Joshua say of them ?* Joshua 13 : 12. 
Have we any race of them remaining ? * 
What do these things show ? 



THE SIXTH PERIOD. 



LESSON LXIIT. 



" And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. 
-Gen. 1: 31. 



1. By a figure of vision Moses speaks of the sixth 
day as though ended. A moments reflection will 
convince us that changes in the earth's crust, are 
being made, similar to those which have preceded. 
Each year ad .Is its quota of deposit to earth, prin- 
cipally gathered from water and air. The average 
accumulations of which, in two thousand years, 
exceed ten feet. 

2. The fauna of no entire period were created 
at once. Hence each had its unformed period 
or evening, and its formed period or morning. 
The drift period to which belongs the sixth day of 



344 THE SIXTH PERIOD. 

Moses, reveals the existence of the present wild 
beasts, also cattle, and most ruminants, but 
no evidence of sheep is found there. 

3. The drift, therefore, was evening to the sheep 
and to man ; but morning to the ox. It is man's 
morning now. 

4. That portion of the sixth day which has 
passed, represents one entire geologic period and 
a second in process of formation. Man occu- 
pies the latter. By some the former is called 
diluvial, the latter alluvial. 

5. Both science and revelation unite to declare 
man the crowning glory of creation. As in the 
creation of seeds and animals in general, man 
was made in one locality and must spread over 
the earth by migration. 

6. It is somewhat difficult to locate the exact 
spot of his Eden. Four rivers rose there. Two 
of them have been lost. 

7. The preponderance of evidence favors a little 
valley just west of Mt. Ararat. Here the Tigris 
or Hiddekel, the Euphrates, with two large heads, 
and one branch of the Orontes take their rise, 

8. The last named river, at first called Pison, 
must have traversed the valley of the Jordan, 
emptying into the Red Sea. 

9. When Sodom was destroyed, the depression 
of this valley was doubtless accompanied with a 
corresponding elevation in northern Syria, which 
turned the head waters of the river into the 



THE SIXTH PERIOD. 345 

Mediterranean. Henceforth, a little confluent, 
retained the name of the parent river, which had 
for some time, been called Jordan. 

10. The Gihon, rising in the same valley, con- 
tinued until the days of Josiah, when the great 
earthquake sent its waters into the Euphrates, 
and the land of Arabia was "deprived of her 
river." 

11. It is quite certain, that on this river was 
located that splendid city Palmyra, the half way 
place in the days of Solomon, between 3 erusalem 
and Babylon. 

12. Job's riches were accumulated in its valley; 
adown which the Sabeans drove his oxen. The 
queen of Sheba may have dwelt upon its fertile 
banks. The prophet described them, as "A 
nation meted out and trodden down, whose land 
the rivers have spoiled." 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is a figure of vision ?* 

What changes are going on in the earth's crust ? 

While the inorganic world increases through 
the organic, can it be accounted completed ? 

From whence does vegetation come ? 

How deep must have been the accumulations 
of the last two thousand years ? 

2. Were all the animals of an entire period 
created at once ? 



346 'THE SIXTH PERIOD. 

What would that portion of a period, wherein an 
object had not sprung into existence, be to that 
object as soon as created ? 

After its creation, what would the remainder of 
the period be ? 

What does the drift period belong to ? 

What does it reveal ? 

What is not found there? 

3. What was the drift to the sheep, and to man ? 
To what was the same period morning ? 
Where are we in time's measurement ? 

4. What portion of the sixth period has passed ? 
Which part does man occupy ? 

What are their names ? 

5. In what are all agreed ? 

What order did God observe in man's creation ? 
How must he fill the earth ? 

6. Wliat was the valley called in which man was 
created ? 

Is it easy to locate it ? 

How many rivers rose there ? 

How many have been lost ? 

7. Where is the most probable place? 
What rivers rise here ? 

What was the Tigris called ? 

How many large heads has the Euphrates ? 

8. Which way did the Orontes.once flow ? 
Where did it empty ? 

W T hat was its first name ? 

In Lot's time, what was it called?* Gen. 13 :10. 

What little stream is now called the Jordan ? * 



THE SIXTH PERIOD. ' 347 

9. At tlie destruction of Sodom, what accom- 
panied the depression of the valley of the Jor- 
dan?* 

What effect did this have upon its ancient 
river ? * 

"What was the present river to the large one ?* 

10. How long did the Gihon continue ? 

What may have sent its waters into the Eu- 
phrates ? 

What effect would this have upon Arabia ? 

11. What noted city was probably on this river ? 

12. Where was Job's home ? 
Where did the Sabeans live ? 
Where was the land of Sheba ? 
Where was Havilah ?* 

Through the whole length of what land did it- 
run ? Gen. 2:13. 

How did the prophets describe the people of 
the desert? Isa. 18:2, 



«GQC€W^ 



THE ANTEDILUVIAN OUTLOOK. 



LESSON LXIV. 



And he changeth the times and seasons." — Dan. 2 : 21, 



1. The relative position of the continents, the 
axillary motion of the earth, the climate and sea- 
sons, before and after the Noachian flood, in the 
absence of direct history, are questions to , be 
settled by hypotheses. 

2. That hypothesis is most reasonable that best 
explains the greatest number of existing phe- 
nomena. 

3. Science and revelation both present us a 
strange array of facts, inconsistent with the 
present axillary motion of the earth. 

4. The language of the Bible forces us to the 
conclusion that, prior to the flood, the position 
of the sun to the earth, was such, that at no 



THE ANTEDILUVIAN OUTLOOK. 849 

time within the twenty-four hours, could the 
prismatic colors, thrown upon the cloud, be 
reflected to the eye of man. Hence, they had no 
rainbow. But now, twice each day, the sun and 
earth are situated so as to give the proper angle 
for the bow. Hence, the rainbow is possible, 
morning and evening, but not at noon. 

5. The bow was given to Noah as the sign of 
the post-diluvian covenant. This covenant has 
its negative and positive sides, both, of which, 
with the sign, are supposed, in a sense, to be 
new. 

6. The fact that a flood of waters covered Asia 
and Europe, to a depth of more than five miles, 
increasing in depth for one hundred and fifty 
'days, and remaining above the mountain tops of 
Armenia for over seven months, then slowly 
receding, shows the cause to have been deeper 
and larger than a forty days rain. 

7. The existence of coal in Greenland, where 
no shrub now grows, and of tropical bones in 
Northern Siberia, together with the strong dip 
of the needle, in the vicinity of Hudson's Bay, 
have long since been presented as evidence of a 
change in the axis of the earth. 

8. The great period of men's lives then, com- 
pared with the period so soon after the flood, 
suggests some new physical cause greatly short- 
ening human life. 

9. The fact that all the fountains of the deep 



350 THE ANTEDILUVIAN OUTLOOK. 

were broken up the same day that Noah entered 
into the ark, and that the flood was not upon 
them until the seventh d,ay, and then it was noted 
as twenty-two feet deep, suggest a tidal wave, 
followed by some new current of the ocean, as 
the cause of the flood. 

10. The excessive rain, for forty days and 
nights, would naturally result from the contact 
of so large a quantity of water with the internal 
fires, laid open by the rending of the earth. 

11. The breaking up of all "the fountains of the 
deep," would seem to indicate a general breaking 
up of the earth's crust, and a disturbance in the 
equilibrium of the ocean. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What leading questions are suggested in the 
opening of this lesson? 

Can we expect them to be directly answered in 
history ? 

In what way must we approach them ? 

What are hypotheses ? * 

Is it thought probable that the continents have 
always held the same relative position ? * 

Is there not reason to believe that the present 
axillary motion of the earth is comparatively 
recent ? * 



THE ANTEDILUVIAN OUTLOOK. 351 

2. What is the test for all hypotheses ? 
What do you understand by phenomena ?* 

3. What do science and revelation both present? 
Can you mention any such fact that is scien- 
tific ? * 

Any that is Scriptural? * Gen. 9 : 14. 

4. Did the antediluvians have the bow of the 
cloud within sight ? 

What prevented the throwing of the prismatic 
colors upon the cloud above the horizon ? * 

Have we not reason to believe that the analysis 
of a ray of light was a common event before, as 
since the flood ? 

At what periods of the ' day are rainbows 
visible ? 
' Can one be visible at noon ? 

What motion of the earth makes one possible ? 

5. For what was the bow given ? 
What may be said of this covenant ? 

Are not all the items of the covenant, together 
with the sign, supposed to be, in a sense, new ? 

What was the negative side? Gen. 9 : 15. 

What was the positive side ? Gen. 8:22. 

Is it likely that they had these things in the 
same sense before ? 

6. How deep must have been the water , to cover 
the Himalaya mountains in Asia ? 

How long were the waters in rising? Gen. 7 :24. 



352 THE ANTEDILUVIAN OUTLOOK. 

How long did they remain above the mountain 
tops? Gen. 8:5. 

What does this show ? 

How long was it from the time that Noah 
entered the ark until he left ? Gen. 7 : 11 ; 8 : 14. 
v Would a forty days' rain have affected the 
earth so long ? * 

If the rain had increased the diameter of the 
earth ten miles, covering sea and land, how can 
we account for its disappearance ? * 

7. What deposit of Greenland suggests an 
ancient and luxuri< lis vegetation? 

Does vegetation abound there now ? 

Where do we yet find an abundance of tropical 
bones ? 

What do these argue as to climate ? 

What as to the present axis of the earth ? 

What relic to a former axis may be claimed in 
the vicinity of Hudson's Bay? 

What was a fair average of man's life before 
the flood ? 

How soon after the flood was it reduced to less 
than three hundred years ? Gen. 25:7, 8. 

What would this suggest ? 

9. When were the fountains of the deep broken 
up? 

What have you understood by this ? * 

What do you now ? * 

How long after this breaking up before it 
rained? Gen. 7:10. 



THE ANTEDILUVIAN OUTLOOK. 353 

How deep was the water when first noted ? 
Gen. 7:20. 

What would this indicate ? 

10. What would be laid open by an extended 
fissure of the earth ? 

What would be the consequences of suddenly 
filling this with water ? 

11. What may we understand by the breaking 
up of all the fountains ? 

Looking at a map of the whole world, does the 
land look entire or broken up ? * 

May this not, in part, have been the fulfillment 
of the curse pronounced ? Gen. 3: 17. 



23 



THE ANTEDILUVIAN SEASONS. 



LESSON LXV. 



" And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden ; 
and there he nut the man whom he had formed." — Gen. 2: 8. 



1 . We shall assume that the land center and the 
north pole were One ; and pointed directly, or 
with a small incline, to the sun. 

2. Tli3 motion of the earth never threw the sun 
below the horizon. Nearly the entire surface of 
the earth would be in perpetual sunshine. A 
small portion, about the pole, would be too hot 
for comfortable human habitation, but productive 
of the rankest vegetation. 

3. This hypothesis would bring all the largest 
known coal-beds, and oil-wells, within nearly 
fifty degrees of the center. It would sufficiently 
explain, as only this can, the absence of the bow. 

4. It would also answer the questions, "why 



THE ANTEDILUVIAN SEASONS. 3£5 

are peat-beds, hundreds of feet thick, tropical 
bones and coal, found in frozen latitudes, even in 
Northern Siberia." 

5. Not without some difficulty, but more appar- 
ent than real, can this hypothesis be maintained. 
It would be a somewhat unique motion for our 
globe, as compared with her sister planets. 

6. The circuits of some of these planets, however, 
are reversed in direction. Oar own moon pre- 
sents only one face to the earth, and only changes 
It to the sun once in twenty-nine days. 

7. The physical contour of the exposed sides 
of the two continents, on either side of the Atlan- 
tic, has long been claimed, as evidence of having 
been rent asunder, by some great convulsion of 
nature. 

8. The assumption that the axis of the earth was 
once east and west, and motion was from south 
to north, might explain the existence of tropical 
vegetation, and animals in Northern Siberia, but 
it fails to account for the absence of the rainbow. 

9. The finding of the Siberian elephant, in a 
good state of preservation, incased in ice, float- 
ing at the mouth of the Lena, shows the transi- 
tion, from the Torrid to Frigid, to have been 
very rapid. 

10. The center of the land hemisphere is located 
near England. Let us then suppose the entire 
earth connected as one vast continent, extending 
some ninety degrees each way, with its internal 
rivers, lakes and seas. 



356 THE ANTEDILUVIAN SEASONS. 

11. This would bring the place of the greatest 
dip of the needle near the Hebrides Islands. 
This would indicate that the former pole and 
the center of the land hemisphere were identical. 

12. It is pretty certain that the home of our 
first parents was a little west of Mt. Ararat ; and 
that the climate was not only tropical, but of 
sufficient evenness, as not to endanger their lives 
without clothing. 

13. Such a climate would result from the above 
hypothesis. The winds of the entire earth would 
be constant, and consequently gentle. The 
mingling of the cool air from the ice bound half 
of the globe, enshrouded in darkness, with the 
heated air escaping from the region about the 
pole, would give a delightful purity of atmos- 
phere, not unlike the most beautiful morning of 
summer. This, with no variation, farther than 
from warm to cool, gave them the advantage over 
us, corresponding to their increased longevity. 

14. It is thought that such a hypothesis can be 
maintained in the presence of all the facts of 
nature and revelation. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What assumption is here made ? 

Where is the center of the land hemisphere ? 
How far now, from this, is the north pole ? 
Ans. About 2,000 miles. 



THE ANTEDILUVIAN SEASONS. 357 

If the pole pointed directly to the sun, what 
would be the sun's appearance at latitude ninety?* 
What at latitude forty-five ? * 

2. Would a person in Asia ever see the sun 
near the horizon? 

How much of the earth would have no setting 
sun ? 

What portion would be hot ? 

Where would we find the rankest vegetation ? 

3. If the continents were united, how far dis- 
tant from England would be the Alleghany coal 
mines ? * 

How far the Illinois ? * 

Within how many degrees would all the largest 
be found ? 

Would this account for coal found in Green- 
land? * 

.Could the prismatic colors have been thrown 
upon the cloud, so as to meet the eye of a person 
within fifty degrees of the pole?* 

Does not this happen whenever the sun, cloud 
and beholder, stand at a given angle ? * 

Would any other hypothesis account for the 
absence of the bow ? 

4 . Would this hypothesis account for tropical 
bones and coal in extreme northern latitudes? 

What do we find in Northern Siberia ? 

How deeply frozen are some of these peat-beds ? 

5. Is our hypothesis free from all difficulty? 
How would this motion compare with that of 



358 THE ANTEDILUVIAN SEASONS. 

sister planets? 

6. Are the circuits of all the planets in the same 
direction ? 

How many times does our moon revolve upon 
its axis in going around the earth ? * 

How many faces does it turn to the sun ? 
How many to the earth ? 

7. What remarkable resemblance is noticed in 
the physical contour of the continents ? 

To what conclusion has this brought many ? 
Have we any example of a rent world ? * 
How many asteroids have now been dis- 
covered ? * 

What are they supposed to have been ? * 
Would it be a thing impracticable, for the 
forces of nature to separate the earth's crust ? * 

8. What assumption has been made? 
What would this explain? 

What would be left unexplained ? 

9. What was found incased in ice in Siberia? 
When was this ? * See Tv 7 ebsier's Unabridged 

Dictionary, Mammoth.. 

10. Wliere is the centre of the land hemisphere ? 
Were the continents united, about how far 

would the earth extend each way? 

11. Where would the dip of the needle then be ? 
What kind of stone would draw the needle? 
When freed from this locality, where does the 

needle point?* 

Is it not pretty certain that the pole, thus 



THE ANTEDILUVIAN SEASONS. 359 

pointing toward the sun, would draw into its for- 
mation an immense amount of loadstone ? * 

Allowing this mountain of loadstone to be 
removed, would not the remaining relics cause 
the aberration of the needle ? 

Where should we now look for the greatest 
mass of this stone? 

May not the electric currents of the earth, 
concentrating upon the pole, account for polar 
light? * 

12. Where was the home of our first parents ? 
What was 1 the climate ? 

, What is it now ? 

13. Would not such a movement of the earth, 
cause- the most even and gentle climate ? 

Where would be the greatest elevation of air ? 
From whence would come the supply ? 
What advantage would such a climate have 
over ours ? 

14. Can we maintain such a hypothesis ? 
What alone can give it weight ? 



O^^CS 



THE DELUGE EXPLAINED. 



LESSON LXVI. 



And the mountains were covered." — Gen. 7 : 20. 



1. The sudden rise of water twenty-two feet; 
and then above the hills, and finally above the 
highest mountains, is an event unexplained by 
any forty days rain. 

2. An. eruption, capable of separating conti- 
nents, twenty-five hundred miles apart, would be 
sufficient to cause a tidal wave of such magni- 
tude, that, though it had to traverse the conti- 
nent for two thousand miles to reach the ark, 
growing less all the time, still held a front 
twenty-two feet deep. 

3. This, of itself, would last but a few hours, 
or days at most, e er the natural outlets would 



THE DELUGE EXPLAINED. 361 

drain it back to the ocean. Other causes, acting 
or resulting from the breaking up of the 
earth's crust, mast have served to continue the 
onward flow of the ocean upon the land. 

4. These new causes must have been the result 
of the removal of the center of the electric cur- 
rents . The mountain of loadstone was suddenly 
removed, by the eruption, two thousand miles to 
the north. But for the former momentum of the 
globe, the earth's motion would have suddenly 
commenced from east to west. The former mo- 
mentum must be overcome. Until then, the 
earth tended to a double movement between the 
two powers, the new axis gaining as the old one 
lost. " Months would elapse before the equili- 
brium would be gained, and the ocean settle to 
its new movements, and final change. 

5. Here we have the cause of the great pressure 
of the ocean, down over Europe and Asia, until 
the highest mountains were covered. 

6. Allowing that the tidal wave flowed from the 
north, we have a natural basin, bounded on three 
sides by high mountains, with only a few small 
outlets to the sea. This accounts for the slow 
manner in which the waters assuaged. 

7. The opening of so vast extent of the earth, 
must have exposed many burning craters and 
extended seams of heated rock, which would 
readily convert vast quantities of water into 
steam, resulting in the noted rain of forty days. 



362 THE DELUGE EXPLAINED. 

8. The oft repeated allusions to the " whole 
world," and " all flesh," in the narrative, nat- 
urally cover only what the ancients understood 
by these terms, viz: Such parts of the world as 
were then known. 

9. No rainbow ever having been seen by Noah, 
the first bow would naturally attract his atten- 
tion ; and as it now depended on the new motion 
of the earth, it was natural to make it a token of 
a prophetic covenant then seen, that the present 
axis should never again be disturbed, while man 
dwells upon the face of the earth. 

10. The earth will be safe from the overflow of 
the ocean, so long as its present axillary motion 
continues. Hence, the'bow, resulting from this 
motion, is a pledge that the earth shall no more 
be overflowed by water. For the same reason, 
assurance is given that seed time and harvesf, 
day and night, summer and winter will alternate. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. How deep was the water that first bore up 
the ark? Gen. 7:20. 

"What was the next increase noted ? Gen. 7 : 19. 

What were the last marks of its rise ? Gen. 
7 : 20. 

Could any number of days' rain, without a new 
creation, increase the volume of water upon the 
globe ?* 



THE DELUGE EXPLAINED. 



363 



If such a volume of water could fall as rain, 
would it remain on the land months after the 
rain ceased? * 

2. How far are the two continents apart ? 

If separated suddenly, what effect must it 
have had upon the ocean ? 

How far would the water have to flow to reach 
southern Asia from the north ? * 

3. Would a tidal wave, uninfluenced by other 
causes, remain long upon the land? 

"What was the foundation of all the causes 
resulting in the flood ? Gen: 7:11. 

4. ' At what point are the electric currents of 
the earth supposed to center ? 

In the formation of rock, what kind of stone 
'would be likely to form, under a constant cur- 
rent of electricity ? * 

May not the spiral currents of electricity be 
among the causes of the earth's daily motion ? * 

What would be the result of removing the cen- 
ter of the electric currents to another place ? * 

How far does this hypothesis remove the 
mountain of loadstone to the north ? 

What would hinder the earth from taking this 
point for its axillary pole at once ? 

Until the former momentum was overcome, 
what must have been the earth's motion ? 

Could the currents of the ocean become estab- 
lished, until the final equilibrium was gained ? * 

How long may this have taken ? 



364 THE DELUGE EXPLAINED. 

5. What would this double movement result in ? 

6. Which way would this tidal wave be likely 
to come ? 

What would favor the retention of a flood of 
water in Asia ? 

How long were the waters in receding ? Gen. 
8:4, 5, 13. 

7. What would be exposed, by this great sepa- 
ration of continents, to the incoming water ? 

In what would this result ? 

8. What did the ancients understand by the 
* ' whole world ? " 

Does not revelation, on non-revealed subjects, 
adapt itself to men's understanding ? 

Had Noah ever seen a rainbow? 

How must he have been affected by the first 
sight of one ? 

Being a prophet, what did God show him 
then?* Gen. 9:12. 

What may this mean ? 
10. What gives the ocean its present bounds ?* 

How long will the land be safe from the over- 
flow of the ocean ? 

What gives us day and night ? 

What gives summer and winter ? 



THE CHANGE WROUGHT. 



LESSON LXVII. 



•' And it shall come to pass, when I bring* a cloud over the 
earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud."— Gen. 9: 14. 



1. The former motion of the earth brought the 
larger systems of mountains' an almost unbroken 
chain around the earth. Nearly all the first-class 
mountains lay near the equator. 

2. Following what must have been the largest 
measurement of the earth, we find the Altai, 
Peling, Naniing, Moon, Andes and Rocky moun- 
tains. They were so situated as to extract the 
moisture of the clouds on their passage from the 
hot zone to the Equator. They would also pro- 
tect the land from the extreme cold winds from 
the frozen deep, beyond the line of sunshine. 
Hence, nearly the entire land of the globe must 
have been productive. 



366 THE CHANGE WROUGHT. 

3. Now these mountains stand in the way of 
moist winds, causing enormous deserts. They 
change the courses of the winds, causing mon- 
soons, cyclones, and hurricanes. They often 
turn the land away from the direct rays of the 
sun, causing unseasonable frosts. 

4. With the change of poles, came a change in 
the general current of the winds. In some 
places they have been reversed ; cold wincls take 
the path of warm ones. They are violent and 
varied where they were gentle and uniform. 

5. The seasons have also changed. We have 
six zones instead of four. Winter and summer 
alternate, as the poles are inclined to or from the 
sun. We have cold or hot, w r et or dry seasons, 
as the currents of the atmosphere favor or oppose. 

6. With the prospect of nine hundred years of 
life before him, man refused to listen to the 
calls for restraints. Self indulgence and alien- 
ation became general. To save any consider- 
able portion of the race, his probation must be 
shortened. God declared he would "cut it 
short in righteousness." 

7. Here is the relative cause of the change in 
man's longevity. God .saw fit to make this earth 
a monument of his displeasure to sin. In Moses' 
language, "He cursed it," "He smote it." In 
Noah's language, "He broke up all the fountains 
of the mighty deep." Before the flood men were 
counted slain, who did not attain to nine hun- 



THE CHANGE WROUGHT. 367 

dred years. In Jacob's time, his years were cut 
short of one hundred and fifty. In Moses' time, 
they were reduced to seventy or eighty., 

8. He is dipped into darkness and lifted into 
sunshine; heated and cjoled; drenched and 
dried; encouraged and dispirited, until his life 
goes out in sorrow. His labor to subdue the 
earth is increased, just in proportion as the great 
causes of nature are thrown out of their proper 
equilibrium. 

9. The whole face of the western portion of the 
western continent has been changed. California, 
Oregon, Western Mexico, Arizona, and portions 
of Nevada, Washington Territory, British Colum- 
bia, and Alaska, have been thrown up from the 
,sea. Nothing can be more apparent than the 
marks of oceanic currents in the Sacramento 
valley. The deposits are those of salt water. 

10. The relative position of land and water, 
throughout the whole globe, has been changed_. 
The tract of the enlongated diameter of the earth 
has been removed some two thousand miles. 

11. The Little Antilles and the Spice Islands 
remind us of chains of mountains, whose tops 
only now stand out of water. 



QUESTIONS . 

1. As compared with the former pole, which 
way did the great chain of mountains run? 
Where were the first-class mountains ? 



368 THE CHANGE WROUGHT. 

2. What chains of mountains followed the 
largest measurement of the earth ? 

What effect would they have upon the clouds? 

What upon the cold winds ? 

With the sun directly over the pole, where 
would be the line of perpetual darkness ? * 

What would be the nature of the land within 
the line of sunshine ? 
3.. How do the mountains now stand ? 

What effect do high mountains have upon 
clouds ?* 

What is the character of the land beyond? 

What effect do chains of mountains have upon 
winds ? 

What is usually the character of the soil on 
the northern slope of mountains of high lati- 
tudes ? * 

To what would the products of the soil here 
be exposed? 

4. What change has been made in the general 
course of the winds ? 

Where do winds now blow perpetually in one 
direction ? 

What was the general character of those 
antediluvian winds ? 

5. How many zones have we ? 
How many had they ? 

What make winter and summer ? 
What gives us our varied seasons ? 
What effect does perpetual north winds, in 
California, have upon the wet season ? * 



THE CHANGE WROUGHT. 369 

6. How did man use his long probation ? 
What became general ? 

How did God describe this wickedness ? * 
Gen. 6 : 5. 

7. What great cause is here seen ? 
How does the earth now appear ? 

What was to be the token to man, of God's 
displeasure of sin? Gen. 3: 17. 

What is the first and great cause of the flood 
mentioned? * Gen. 7: 11. 

What was the age of man? 

What was it in Jacob's time ? 

What in Moses' time ? 

What is the average now ?* 

8. What extremes meet us now ? 

' What effect would these adverse things have 
upon labor ? 

What are the emblems of obstructed labor ?* 
Gen. 3:18. 

9. Where was the Pacific Coast before the 
flood? 

What is the character of the deposits of the 
valleys ? 

What current marks do we find here ? 

10. What effect would a change of poles have 
upon the former Equator ?* 

What upon the latter Equator ?* 
How far was the removal ? 

11. What do the chain of some islands suggest ? 

24 



THE EXTENT OF "THE EAKTH," VIEWED 
UNDER DIFFERENT PERIODS. 



LESSON LXVIII. 



"And every living substance was destroyed, which 
was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and 
the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven." Gen. 7: 23. 

" And ot them was the whole earth overspread." Gen. 9: 19. 



1. Words are significant emblems of ideas. 
They may mean much more, under a general 
state of knowledge, than when uttered before 
that knowledge, appeared. Prior to Herschel's 
time, our "planetary system consisted of its cen- 
ter, the sun, six primary planets, four asteroids, 
and eleven moons. We now have eight primary 
planets, over one hundred asteroids, and twenty 
moons. "The planetary world," before Her- 
schel's time, meant much less than the term, as 
used to-day. 



THE EARTH UNDER DIFFERENT PERIODS. 371 

2. What is true of the heavens, is emphatically 
true of our lower world- Before Columbus' 
time, the extreme west of the earth was the Azore 
Islands. "All the earth" extended from the 
Indies to the Azores. In Paul's time, they knew 
nothing west of Europe, and nothing east of 
Hindoostan. Hence, the term in his time was 
still more restricted. 

3. He wrote to the Christians at Rome, that their 
"faith was spoken of throughout the whole 
world." Could Paul have had reference to coun- 
tries unknown to that generation, and upon whom 
Christianity had shed no light? Speaking of 
apostolic teaching; he says : " Their sound 
went -into all the earth, and their words unto the 
ends of the world," i. e. Arabia, Northern Africa, 
India, Europe and Asia Minor. 

4. Alexander fancied himself ruler of the world, 
when he had conquered Northern Africa, Asia 
Minor, Greece, Syria, and Persia. He imagined 
that a small campaign remained, to the west, 
and the " whole earth " was conquered. 

5. We have every reason to believe that the 
knowledge of the world w r as still less in Noah's 
time. Noah was a prophet, and saw by inspira- 
tion that the Lord was going to cut off man and 
beast from the earth. We must not forget that 
God spoke by impressing the intuitions of the 
prophet's soul. If, therefore, an impression is 
made that the earth will be covered with water, 
will that impression concerning the world be as 



372 THE EAETH UNDER DIFFERENT PERIODS. 

then known, or will there be a discovery in the 
impression, of unknown parts of the earth ? 

6. Christ was shown the kingdom of the whole 
world in a moment's time, but that was for the 
mightiest trial of his great nature. Have we 
any reason to believe that Noah saw by revela- 
tion every part of the earth ? If he saw North 
and South America, as they are now situated it 
is strange the world should never have been 
blessed with, at least, some intimation of his 
knowledge. 

7. Noah lived in Asia. He saw the general 
wickedness of man, as known in the so-called 
world he lived in. A calamity was about to 
befall the earth, which had been determined 
upon when Adam sinned. It was the curse of 
God now to be fulfilled. 

8. He saw the world, as known to his people, 
submerged, and as a consequence, all flesh per- 
ishing. Their only hope was to repent, believe 
the truth, and take refuge, as he was about to, 
within the ark. One hundred and twenty years 
was spent as a preacher of righteousness to them, 
but without changing the world's course. 

9. As the time drew near he was impressed to 
go in, take the animals," and be closed in the ark. 
The sequel showed that it was not too soon, for 
the same day " all the fountains of the earth 
were broken up," and in seven days more, the 
tid al wave was about the ark twenty-two feet 
high, and the forty days rain commenced. 



THE EARTH UNDER DIFFERENT PERIODS. 373 
QUESTIONS. 

1. What are words ? 
What is said of them? 

Prior to Herschel's time what did our plane- 
tary world consist of ? 
What do we now have ? 
What of the relative terms ? 

2. What farther remark? 

Before Columbus' time, how far west did thej 
know land ? 

How far east ? 

What would "all the earth" east and west, 
mean ? 

How far west in Paul's time? 

How far east ? 

What of the term then ? 

3. What did he write to the Christians at Eome ? 
Could that mean more than was known ? 
What does he say of apostolic teaching ? 
What were these ends ? 

4. What was Alexander's idea? 
What campaign would finish ? 

5. What have we reason to believe ? 
What was Noah ? 

Were prophets necessarily inspired, in refer- 
ence to all the bearings of a question, which had 
been the subject of revelation?* 

How did God speak to prophets ? 

What would be natural in such impressions ? 

Is it probable that new discoveries of the 
earth were given him ? 



374 THE EAKTH UNDER DIFFERENT PERIODS. 

6. "What was Christ shown ? 
What for ? 

What question is asked ? 

What makes it appear that he did not ? 

When the waters abated, did he know it by 
seeing, as a prophet, or by experiments with 
birds ?* Gen. 8:11. 

7. Where did Noah live? 
What did he see ? 

What was about to befall the earth ? 

When was this determined on ? Gen. 3: 17. 

Would the repentance of the antediluvians 
have saved the earth, or themselves ? * 

What was the change then to be made ? 
8 What did Noah see ? 

What as a consequence ? 

What was their only hope ? 

How/ long did he preach to them on this sub- 
subject ? 

Did he change their course ? 
9. As the time drew near, how was he im- 
pressed ? 

What did the sequel show ? 

What happened the same day '? 

What in seven ? 

What then commenced ? 

On the assumption, that the then known earth 
only, was to be submerged, could not the animals 
travel directly to the ark ? * 



THE TERM " ALL FLESH," AS APPLIED 

TO THOSE DESTROYED BY THE 

FLOOD. 



LESSON LXIX. 



" And they that went in, went in male and female of all 
flesh." Gen. 7: 16. 



1. If Noah was to gather the animals by human 
means, he would not be likely to go beyond the 
regions of the known world. If God must send 
them to him, he will surely select two of each 
kind from every region about to be submerged ; 
and when the flood is over they must be taken 
back again. 

2. Now we will suppose that our childish 
impression of the account given in Genesis is the 
true rendering, that the continents lay then as 
now, and that foity days rain raised the water, 



376 THOSE DESTROYED BY THE FLOOD. 

over land and ocean, to the extent of five miles 
above its former level. Then the term "all 
flesh " must be strictly interpreted to mean, not 
only all flesh of" the then known world, but 
literally all flesh of the entire globe. 

3. In our fancy we see a couple of lamas start- 
ing from South America, two grizzly bears from 
the Rocky Mountains, two buffaloes .from the 
plains, two turkeys from the interior, two 
opossums from Yirginia, with others too numerous 
to mention, joining an army of birds and creep- 
ing things, all on their way to Asia, to be housed 
in the ark. 

4. How shall they get across the water ? If 
this is the solution, we must suppose that some 
miraculous influence carried them across to the 
ark, and that the same influence returned them. 
God is able to do this. If he chose to do so, it 
must have been for the good it would have 
exerted on man, by way of establishing his power, 
and his care for animals. But what good can it 
do on mere surmise, where there is no record of 
the fact ? 

5. It would be far- more consistent to' give 
Noah's language the same latitude of interpreta- 
tion that we do Paul's expressions, where he 
speaks of the "whole world," or of the "ends 
of the earth." 

6. The probability is, that Noah was not inspired 



THOSE DESTROYED BY THE FLOOD. 377 

to make new discoveries in the earth, but to see 
a flood of water covering the so-called earth of 
his time, which as a consequence, would destroy 
"all flesh" dwelling therein. Moses, with the 
inspiration of superintendence, records the 
account as a truthful rendering of appearances 
and r t suits, as understood by Noah and those 
with him in the ark. 

7. That a much wider country, than that known 
to Noah, would feel the influence of that great 
tidal wave, caused by the breaking up of iC all 
the fountains of the deep," is quite certain. 
Noah's testimony is in reference to what we call 
Asia,- which, with Europe, and Northern Africa, 
lay submerged for nearly one year. It would 
follow, that the animals and men saved were 
representatives of those inhabiting the submerged 
region. 

8. It is morally certain, that from natural 
causes, no country could lay submerged so long 
through a forty days' rain. Neither would it 
from a tidal wave alone, unless followed by a 
new current of the ocean. It is equally certain 
that the same current would not submerge the 
Eastern and Western continents, at the same 
time. It is quite probable therefore, that the 
mountains of the latter were not covered by the 
great flood, and consequently the life of the 
Western continent, at least, was not fully 
cut off. 



378 THOSE DESTROYED BY THE FLOOD. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What suggestion is made ? 
What concerning God ? 

If Noah gathered them, would he not have the 
divine co-operation ? * 

2. What supposition are we about to make ? 
Would any number of days' falling of water, 

previously upon the globe, raise the water of the 
ocean? * 

If it had, what must have been true ? 

3. What must follow ? 

4. What question meets us ? 
What must we suppose ? 
What is admitted ? 

For what purpose has God performed mira- 
cles? John 11: 42, 43. 

What would be wanting here ? 

5. What would be more consistent ? 

What interpretation do we give such expres- 
sions in the New Testament ? * 

6. What is probable ? 

What would be the consequences of such a 
flood ? 

What kind of inspiration recorded this ? 

Was it the less inspiration, that neither of 
them knew of the Western continent ? * 

7. What is quite certain? 

Would not the same great pressure of water, 
covering Asia, be likely to cover parts, or the 
whole of Africa? * 



THOSE DESTROYED BY THE FLOOD. 379 

What does Noah's testimony have reference 
to? 
8. What is morally certain ? 

What farther? 

What other certainty ? 

What is probable ? 

What would follow ? 

With Noah's understanding of "all the world," 
would not that be a destruction of " all flesh ?" * 

Would God be implicated as not knowing, or 
Noah in untruthfulness, if he should attribute to 
inspiration, an impression, couched in words, 
which measured by modern knowledge, are not 
strictly true?* Joshua 10: 12, 13. 



THE DESCENDANTS OF CAIN. 



LESSON LXX. 



" The Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him 
should kill him."— Gen. 14: 15. 



1. We have noticed the proclivities of parents 
re-produced in their children to many genera- 
tions. The name of Jacob signifies supplanter, 
and Esau said he was rightly named. He sup- 
planted his brother, as also his father-in-law. 
His children supplanted the idolatrous inhabit- 
ants of Palestine, and his descendants, to this 
day, are at work to supplant our holy Sabbath, 
and the institutions of the Christian religion. 

2. As soon as the conscience of Cain called up 
his fratricide, he' was made to utter, under his 
own name, a series of prophetic truths, which 
gave the characteristics of his progeny. These 
impressions were presented in the form of a 
dialogue between his soul and God. 



DESCENDANTS OF CAIN. 381 

3. The " curse" was to drive him from the then 
known "earth," and yet he would be a "'fugitive 
and vagabond in the earth. " Cain saw that he 
would be driven out from the face of the earth, 
and, consequently, lost to the rest of the world ; 
and when men should find him they would slay 
him. 

4. Despairingly, in view of the effects upon his 
.progeny, he appealed unto God, that it was more^ 
than he could bear. He saw that his watch- 
word would be to his enemies, "vengeance seven 
fold." The Lord gave him a "mark," a redeem- 
ing characteristic,, that men, finding him in his 
isolation, should not kill him. Cain also saw 
that he would lose his skill in tilling the soil. 

5/ Cain and his descendants for six generations 
dwelt neighbors to the rest of the world. The 
names of his sons and their wives are familiarly 
recorded by Moses. Lamech, the fifth from 
Cain, had two wives and three sons, who became 
the heads of the three bands, or distinct families, 
prophetic of three degrees of civilization. 

6. Jabal was the father of such as dwelt in tents, 
and had cattle. Jubal was the father of all such 
as handle the harp and organ. Tubal Cain was 
an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron. 

7. Here ends the knowledge of the ancients 
concerning them. Here they took up their 
migratory life, to go forth from the "face" of 
the then known "earth." Lamech had a pro- 



382 DESCENDANTS OF CAIN. 

phetic vision of the increased characteristics of 
these families. ' ' If Cain shall be avenged seven 
fold, truly Lamech seventy and seven fold." 

8. A people going forth with such debasing 
watchwords, will be likely to fulfill all that 
prophecy uttered, even to that terrible declara- 
tion of Cain, " I shall be hid from thy face." 
Hundreds of years pass, and their memory is 
lost, nor were they found again, by mankind in 
general, until discovered by Columbus. 

9. The characteristic "mark," which prophecy 
said would be placed upon this people, was found 
upon them, as well as all the debasing tendencies 
spoken of. The mark wo aid be redeeming in its 
nature/ 

10. The Indian has been noted for one trait in 
his character that fulfills this prophecy, viz: 
"gratitude" for "kindness." Christianity has 
alone read, and profited by this mark. 

11. The habits of the Indians show very clearly, 
at least, two of the distinct characteristics of 
Lamech's sons. The North American Indian 
lives in tents and owns cattle. While the South 
American, with those of the southern part of 
North America, live in houses and are workers 
of brass and iron. All have lost ability to till 
the soil. Vengeance is the watch-word to enemies. 

12. The Bible is not silent concerning them. 
How natural to the benevolent mission of Christ, 
as he looked upon these poor degraded children 
of nature, imprisoned as it were from the rest of 



DESCENDANTS OF CAIN. 383 

the world, to cross over to them at times, and 
become their loving teacher, both before, and 
after the resurrection. It is more than probable 
that this is the reason the Puritans found those 
of the North without idols, and with such knowl- 
edge of the Great Spirit. 

13. Christ frequently talked of his mission to 
those in prison, and finally he spoke as follows : 
" And other sheep I have, which are not of this 
fold; them also I must bring, arid they shall hear 
my voice; and there shall be one fold and one 
shepherd." 

14. Peter wrote, "By which (Spirit) also he 
went and preached -unto the spirits in prison, 
which sometime were disobedient, when once 
the long suffering of God waited in the days of 
Noah, while the ark was preparing." 

15. The original here translated "disobedient," 
is Apethidzo, to teach not. The verse truly 
rendered, would read : "Who for along time 
had been untaught, at the time the long suffering 
of God waited in the days of Noah." 

16. Eoman Catholics tell us Christ went to 
preach to the lost in hell. This we do not 
accept ; but he went to preach to somebody, or 
race of people, who failed to get Noah's teaching 
during the one hundred and twenty years, that 
he warned the world of the coming flood. May 
this not be the reason why that race had a 
remnant left, to enjoy tbe gospel under the great 
Teacher? 



384 DESCENDANTS OF CAIN. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What hereditary tendencies have we noticed? 
What does Jacob mean ? 

What did Esau say of it? 
What has been Israel's history ? 

2. At what time did Cain become imbued with 
a prophecy ? 

Who is personally addressed? 

Who are meant ? 

In what form were they presented ? 

3. What was the curse ? 

Does this mean that the curse would come 
from the earth, or that he would remove from 
the then inhabited earth ? 

What would he be ? 

Was this fulfilled in Cain's day ? * Gen. 4:16. 

What did he see ? 

4. What did he do ? 

What did he see would be the watch-word of 
the race? 

What did the Lord do for him ? 

Was this- a literal brand, or a marked char- 
acteristic ? 

Was it as a curse, or a redeeming quality t* 

What was it for ? . 

What farther did he see ? 

5. How long did he remain a neighbor to the 
rest of mankind ? 

If he had gone to a great distance could the 
history of his family have been given? 



DESCENDANTS OF CAIN. 385 

Who was Lamech ? 
How many sons had he ? 

What relation did they hold to future gen- 
erations ? 

6. What did Jabal represent ? 
What did Jubal ? 

What was the employment of Tubal Cain? 

7. What of their history ? 
What commenced here ? 

Do these prophecies appear as a decree of 
God, or an unfolding of what they would do, and 
be? 

Wliafc did Lamech have? 

What was its import ? 

8. What remark is made ? 
What follows ? 

When were they discovered ? 

9 . What is said of Cain's mark ? 
What was the nature of the mark ? 

10. For what has the Indian so long been noted ? 
What principle in the white man has read and 

profited by it ? 

Is not the early history of Pennsylvania a good 
illustration?* 

11. What is said of the habits of the Indians? 
How did those of the north differ from those 

in the south ? 

Have the Indians excelled in agriculture ? 

Is the trouble in the ground, or the tillers ? * 

12. What is here said of the Bible ? 

25 



386 DESCENDANTS OF CAIN. 

What would be natural ? 
What is probable ? 

Could not Christ cross the Atlantic with the 
same facility as the sea of Galilee ?* 

13. What was one of the objects of his mission ? 
Isa. 61:1. 

May not prison have a somewhat literal mean- 
ing ?* 

What did he announce ? 

14. What did Peter write ? 

Is this easy to understand ? * 

15. What is the word here translated disobe- 
dient? 

What literal meaning has it ? 

How would the verse then read ? 

Were not the people of the so-called world, 
to be destroyed, warned by Noah ? 

Was not their wickedness the reason that they 
were not saved ? Gen. 6 : 5. 

16. What version do the Koman Catholics give 
it? 

Can we believe this? 
What seems true ? 

Were they the same people, or their descend- 
ants?* 

What question is asked ? 




KOSMOS IN VAPOR.— Gen. 1:6. 



HISTORY OF A DROP OF WATER. 



LESSON LXXI. 



" Hath the rain a father ? or who hath begotten the drops 
of dew? Job 38: 28. 



1. By a figure of rhetoric we cause inanimate 
things to speak. We will let the rain drop tell 
his own story. 

2. My birth-place was unbounded space. My 
parent's names were Hydrogen and Oxygen. 
They were directly from the forming hand of the 
great Architect of the universe. 

3. My parents are said to have entertained for 
each other the very strongest affection, from 
their earliest meeting. Henceforth they desired 
to be united in the strong bonds of matrimony. 
Long aeons passed and no uniting priest appeared 
to solemnize their wish. Still they were affianced 
by a decision, that no misfortune could break. 



388 HISTORY OF A DROP OF WATER. 

4. They beheld the marshaling from chaos of 
those ethereal particles of matter, which, united, 
would form immense luminous centers, called 
suns, and light was born. They looked upon 
these centers as so many lone sentinels, kindling 
camp-fires along the pathway, and keeping time 
to the march of God. 

5. They had both looked on, while a twin 
brother of Oxygen and a sister of Hydrogen, 
were silently, yet carefully united in marriage, 
and air was formed. No torch then lit up the 
heavens, no murmur escaped the deep. What 
could they expect, but quiet and tranquillity 
now ? 

6. A sixth portion of the time allotted to matter 
passed, and still no priest appeared. The day 
for celebrating their nuptials, at last drew near. 
Miss Hydrogen was arrayed in readiness and 
Oxygen prepared to grasp her pure hand, with 
no expectation of the grand stir which the event 
was to make throughout the universe. 

7. She had scarcely called her maids about her, 
when at the appearance of the electric spark, as 
uniting priest, the whole heavens were aglow 
with intensest light, while the universe reverb- 
erated, with receding and returning vibrations, 
until the grand center felt the shock, and 
recorded the fact of the union of Miss Hydrogen 
with her equivalent of Oxygen. 

8. My humble existence, as one of a very large 
family, resulted from this union. My first 




CONDENSING FROM THE OUTSIDE, WITH COMFFESSED POLES. 316 



HISTORY OF A DROP OF WATER. 389 

remembrance is concerning the great heat to 
which I was subjected, and the aerified form of 
my body. How like a fairy I rose and flew, as 
with wings ! How lightly I stepped; how noise- 
lessly I ran, here and there, onward, outward, 
downward and upward ! I was expandeduntil I 
was concerned for room wherein to exercise my 
powers. 

9. It was just here that God's servant, when 
taken back by the power of the Spirit to witness 
creation's birth, and creation's changes, saw, 
that the waters above the firmament were not 
separate from those below. Here we circled in 
clouds of superheated steam, awaiting condensa- 
tion, and a common center for axillary rotation. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. How are inanimate things made to speak? 
What is this figure called ?* 

What are we about to personify ? 

2. Where was he born ? 

What were his parents' names ? 

Whence were they ? 

Of what is water made * 

By what agent do they unite ?* 

3. What is said of his parents ? 
What did they desire ? 

What passed before they could accomplish it? 
What was wanting ? 
What is said of them ? 



390 HISTOBY OF A DROP OF WATER. 

4. What had they beheld ? 

What might these centers resemble? 

5. What previously occupied their attention ? 
In what manner does nitrogen and hydrogen 

unite ?* 

Did light, or sound, signalize their union ? 
What was the natural inference ? 

6. How much time did Moses allot to the 
changes of matter ?* Gen. 2 : 2. 

What part had already passed ? 
What drew near ? 

What was the present state of things ? 
Were they expecting what followed ? 

7. What phenomena followed Miss Hydrogen's 
marriage ? 

What still yields the greatest heat?* 

8. What resulted ? 

What would result from the sudden nianufac- 
ture of a world of superheated vapor ?* 

What form would the mass be likely to 
assume ?* 

Where would condensation begin to take 
place ? % 

9. How does Moses corroborate this? Gen. 
1: 6, 7. 

What would result from cooling this body ? * 
When condensed what would result ? 
Have we not reason to believe that all terres- 
trial matter was once held in solution in a globe 
of water ? * Gen. 1:9; Job 38 : 4 ; Ps. 24 : 2; 
2 Pt. 3:5. 




TRANSVERSE VIEW OF THE WATER, AS IT COMMENCED TO 
GATHER AND ROTATE UPON THE OUTSIDE.— Gen. 1: 7. 316— 2d 



HISTORY OF A DROP OF WATER. 



LESSON LXXII. 



" And God said, Let the waters under thp heaven be 
gathered together unto one place." Gen. 1:9. 



1. From my vapory world I looked upward and 
outward, and I beheld myriads of my kindred 
joining hands in one grand march upon the outer 
surface; thus, enclosing me, with my comrades, 
as in an enormous revolving shell. 

2. The vast procession constantly received new 
accessions, and steadily pressed more heavily 
upon our unshielded heads. Our turn soon 
came to join the circle. To my great astonish- 
ment, my size was instantly reduced seventeen 
hundred times. 

3. When all our comrades had united in this 
revolving ring, our aggregate form was that of a 
liquid globe, revolving upon its axis, one pole 
of which pointed directly to the sun. 



392 HISTORY OF A DROP OF WATER. 

4. Around this globe was seen a dense atmos- 
phere of carbonic gas, with one of air still above. 
We held in solution a vast quanity of material 
ready to be colonized together. The elements 
generally were eager to unite. 

5. Since the nature of this matter was such, as 
to forbid its taking wings and ascending, it nat- 
urally retired below the surface. Our frequent 
flights to the heavens only gave it the greater 
readiness to descend, until it found those of 
our number, compressed to an equal density 
with itself. Here at uneven depths it rested, for 
a while, without crowding. 

6. But the number of particles which sought 
this level was legion. After having completely 
blocked up the way, so that none of us could 
escape, they commenced to press us downward, 
while we stood oar grond as nature's own invin- 
cibles. 

7. Our resisting force was among the greatest, 
req airing a thousand atmospheres to compress 
us one twenty-fourth part. Still, such untold 
pressure drove us down a little, only to intensify 
our united force in increased resistance. 

8. For every two and a half feet that we gave 
away, we forced our intruder up with a power 
equal to three aud a half feet. So we felt that 
we were slowly gaining upon the foe. 

9. The ages passed on, leaving us each succes- 
sive hoar with move work to d:>, bat with increased 
power to perform. We could see no hope of 




A GLOBE OF WATER, HOLDING EARTHY MATTER IN 
SOLUTION. — Gen. 1 : 9. 



HISTORY OF A DROP OF WATER. 393 

escape from our dark prison, at least, until we 
should have pushed our foe to the surface. Nor 
could we just see, how this would then relieve us. 

10. Looking upon us from jour present point of 
observation, when you reflect upon our volatile 
nature, our love of change, our annual flight to 
the mountains, from whence men arresting our 
progress, and by means of bars of iron and bands 
of leather, harness us to their service, while the 
buzz of ten thousand spindles and the clatter of 
a thousand looms, send us again singing our 
way to the sea, you will understand the weary 
ages of our confinement in labor. 

11. Slowly but steadily, the deposits were made, 
until the surface was gained and dry land appeared ; 
still, no relief came to us. As nearly as we 
could compute time in our dark recess, we could 
look back, from this point, over thirty million of 
years. 

12. We became impressed with the thought, 
that God is in no hurry to accomplish his work 
of creation. A thousand years with him, are as a 
day. We saw that we were made for work, and 
through unwearied labor, we could accomplish 
some of the grandest results. 

13. All things become wearisome unless con- 
scious of approaching some grand design. Charge 
would be agreeable, but to know that God uses 
for a purpose was better. Hence our reconcilia- 
tion to remain at our post. 



394 HISTOKY OF A DKOP OF WATEE. 

QUESTIONS, 

1. Where do we find the narrator of the story 
now ? 

What did he behold ? 
W T hat action would a belt of water have ?.* 
Do not the belts of Saturn revolve at a great 
distance around the center of the planet ? * 

2. What changes are here noted ? 

What would be the effect upon the vapor 
within ? 

In what condition had our narrator been thus 
far?* 

What is the difference, in bulk, between water 
condensed or vaporized ? * 

What did God do ? Gen. 1: 9. 

3. When gathered together, what was their 
form ? 

What position is assigned to its axis ? 

4. What might have been seen around, and next 
to it ? 

What did Job say of it? * Job 38 : 9. 

How do we know this ? * See the coal meas- 
ures. 

Where was the atmosphere in a purer state? 

What was held in solution? 

What would be natural for elements so richly 
loaded ? 

5. What was natural for this matter ? 




WATERS GATHERED INTO ONE PLACE, (Gen. 1: 9,) SURROUNDED 
BY CARBONIC GAS.— .Job 38: 9. 318 



HISTOEY OF A DEOP OF WATEB. 395 

What is natural for water? 

What effect does the vaporization of water have 
upon mineral earths held in solution ? 

How far would any matter sink in a globe of 
water ? 

Would all sink to the same depth ? * 

What form would such a submarine crust then 
have? 

6. What might be said of these earthy particles ? 
When hardened, what would the crust form ? * 
What effect would it have upon the waters 

beneath? 

Is water easily compressed ? * 

What, under great pressure, is it prepared to 
do?* 

Does not the vast body of the water of the 
ocean press that beneath, into a greater density ?* 

7 . What is the resisting force of water against 
condensation ? 

What law governs the weight of bodies as you 
descend from the surface ? * 

What is true of water as you recede from the 
surface ? * 

Would not all known substances in sinking, 
find water compressed to its own specific gravity ? * 

What would result when additional weight 
was added ? 

8. What computation is the water made to 
reveal ? 



396 HISTORY OF A DROP OF WATER. 

Is this presented as an exact, or an approxima- 
tion to truth ? * 

What was the result? 

9. As the ages passed away what resulted ? 
How far beneath the surface do the largest 

storms affect the ocean ? * 

Would water, compressed beneath the earth, 
be likely to be disturbed, until the breaking up 
of the earth's crust ? * 

How does the compressed drop speak of his 
prospect ? 

10. What are some of the changes to which 
water upon the surface is subject ? 

Do not the relative circumstances of our being 
cause our lives to greatly contrast with others? * 

Is man therefore completely a creature of 
circumstances ? * 

May he not often control them ? * 

Is this power given to anything else ? * 

11. How were the deposits made ? 

What is the depth of debris supposed to accu- 
mulate upon the earth's surface during the last 
four thousand years ? 

Ans. From ten to fourteen feet. 

What average would this give per year. 

Ans. Four-hundredths of an inch. 

At this rate how long would it take to accumu- 
late thirty miles ?* 

Would not the earliest deposits be more rapid? * 




DEPOSITS OF THE SEA, SETTLING TO THEIR OWN SPECIFIC 

GRAVITY. 318 2d 



HISTORY OF A DROP OF WATER. 397 

How long had the drop of water been con- 
fined ? 

12. How do such calculations impress us ? 
How did prophets express time, reckoned by 

God? Ps. 90:4. 

Of what is the sea composed ? * 
What may be said of it ? 

13. What is essential, in all labor, to prevent 
weariness ? 

What is very generally agreeable ? 

W T hat is better ? 

What may ever be said of the post of duty ? * 



cesxso- 



HISTOEY OF A DEOP OF WATEE. 



LESSON LXXIII. 



" For He hath founded the world upon the seas, and 
established it upon the floods." Psalms 24: 2. 



1. The deposits appeared at the surface. In 
Moses' language, "The dry land appeared." 
Great changes were now evidently to take place 
upon the earth. Hitherto most of the deposits 
had been made from the water. 

2. But now they were to come largely from the 
air. An atmosphere of purple carbonic gas, 
many miles deep, still completely encircled the 
globe. This, with the unoccupied nitrogen, by 
the slow process of vegetation, must be deposited 
upon the land. 

3. With such an atmosphere, vegetation would 
be exceedingly rich in carbon, rank in growth, 
and dripping with oil. Such are known to have 




DRY LAND APPEARING.- Gen. 1: P. 



820 



HISTORY OF A DROP OF WATER. 399 

been the ferns, pines, arancarias, and other acro- 
genous plants, of the coal period. The giant 
trees of untold centuries, lay prostrate and far 
hidden beneath the surface, yet, in consequence 
of their richness in oil, were incapable of decay. 

4. How completely we here see nature's provi- 
sion for pressing out the crude oils into reser- 
voirs, while the residue was reserved for the 
manufacture of coal. 

5. As soon as the carbon had became suffi- 
ciently organized as to allow combustion, the 
whole earth became a sheet of flame, and much 
of its surface subjected to intense heat. The 
uncovered carbon escaped, while that which lay 
covered, became permanently deposited. 

6. During this long period, nature's forces 
seemed on the side of the compressing earth. We 
could feel no convulsive throb. We knew of no 
disintegrating agents. There was one quiet, but 
increasing pressure. 

7. But now nature began to show uneasiness. 
The mighty throbs of her reactive forces were 
distinctly felt. Some powerful agent had com- 
menced to throw up her crust, and remodel her 
physical contour. Shall we not hope in this ? 

8. These ro volutions went on alternately, 
between carbon organized into vegetable 
deposit, and set free by combustion, until the 
Grampian Hills, the Alleghany, the Scandina- 
vian, the Alps, the Belor, the Andes, and the 



400 HISTORY OF A DROP OF WATER. 

Himalaya mountains had reared their massive 
heads above the clouds. 

9. Moses recorded the end of the fourth period, 
by noting the shining of the sun upon the earth. 
The burning period had ended. The earth 
could now bring forth a kind of vegetation 
whose seed was not in itself, but in the ovary of 
the flower, This marks the period for the intro- 
duction of the phaenogamia. 

10. The sea now swarmed with myriads of 
animals, each successive creation developing 
something new in the reserved forces and wis- 
dom of God. Fishes, reptiles, birds and mam- 
mals, all had their day, while twenty miles addi- 
tional deposits were made upon the surface. 
Still no one was found to till the soil, or to 
whom the earth might be given m trust. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. Where did the deposits now appear ? 
How did Moses express it ? Gen. 1: 9. 
What might be looked for ? 

How had the deposits been made ? 
Of what is primitive rock largely composed ? * 
Ans. Of carbon. 

What element held this carbon in solution ? * 

2. What change was wrought ? 
W T hat still enveloped the globe ? 
How must it find its way into the soil ? 




GIGANTIC FERN. 



324 



HISTORY OF A DROP OF WATER. 401 

3. What must be said of such a carbonated 
atmosphere ? 

What is known of ancient ferns ? 
Would timber, impregnated with oil, be likely 
to decay ? 

What would be the consequence ? 

Were the ferns exogenous, or endogenous ? * 

4. From gravitation alone, what would become 
of much of the oil within them ? 

What would the accumulated debris of many 
ages, when covered, resemble ? * 
What was made from the debris ? 

5. When would the prepared coal-pit ignite ? 

With such a surface, what must result ? 

What would become of the carbon, in sub- 
stance, exposed ? 

What, in that lying covered ? 

6. To what had the forces of nature seemed 
silently tending ? 

Had any volcanic agency yet existed ? * 
Where does geology place the commencement 
of volcanic agency ? * 

7. With pent up fires within her crust, what 
would nature show ? 

What would be felt? 

What began to appear ? 

What agency is sufficient for the lifting of 
mountains and breaking of the earth's crust ? * 

What distant prospect might stand before a 
drop of water, compressed beneath a crust, under- 
going volcanic action ? * 

26 



402 HISTORY OF A DROP OF WATER. 

8. What might be said of the carboniferous 
deposits and burnings? 

Which are known to be the older mountains, 
the low or high ? * 

9. How did Moses end the fourth period ? 
Was not the creation' of suns the first organ- 
izing act ? * Gen. i: 12. 

What did these changes mark ? 
What are Phienogamous plants ? * 
What are Crpytogamous ? * 

10. With what did the sea swarm ? 

Were new species of animals produced by 
development, or by new creations ? 

What did each successive creation develop ? 

What is the order of creation since the carbon- 
iferous period ? 

How long a period does this cover ? 

Ans. Not less than 15,000,000 years. 

What was still wanting ? 

How did Moses express it ? * Gen. 2:5. 



^fiR^^ 




DEPOSITS OF UNTOLD AGES, RICH WITH OIL. 326 



HISTORY OF A DROP OF WATER. 



LESSON LXXIV. 



"Let them have dominion over the fowl of the air, and 
oyer the cattle, and over all the earth, and over eveiy creep- 
ing thing that creepeth upon the earth." Gen. 1: 26. 



1. Man found the earth fitted for his habita- 
tion. Its face, its winds, and its climates, all 
presented the most delightful prospects of unin- 
terrupted enjoyment and prosperity. That lovely 
name, " Garden of Eden," which seems to have 
been applied to a local home, given to Adam, 
was only another name given to the whole earth, 
committed in trust to him, and his posterity. 

2. God's trusts are conditional. The earth 
itself was no exception. It would continue a 
garden under obedience and love to God. It 
would cease to be such under a reign of sin. 
These conditions were evidentlv contained in 



404 HISTOEY OF A DEOP OF WATEB. 

those personal specifications to man, promising 
life in obedience, but death in disobedience . 

3. When man's conduct came in collision with 
the law of his God, he was driven from his local 
home, and forbidden to return ; an emblem of a 
lost home to the race. It was not fitting, that 
this beautiful earth should show no symptoms of 
God's displeasure to the dark stream of rebellion 
about to roll over it. 

4. God determined to show his regard for man, 
and his disapprobation of sin, by causing a terri- 
ble curse to rest upon the earth. The effect of 
this curse, has divided man's first probation by 
twice seven. 

5. "Times and seasons," were to be changed. 
Had we known all this, when the curse was pro- 
nounced, or could we have known with Noah, 
within one hundred and twenty years, bright 
hopes of deliverance would have cheered our 
dark recess beneath its crust. 

6. But when least expecting change, we felt one 
mighty throb of nature, as though all the strata 
were to be rent asunder. Looking up, we beheld 
a few rays of sunlight, the first seen for forty 
five million years. 

7. We started at once for the surface. We 
went up like a rocket past the granite, gneiss, 
mica slate, hornblende, quartz rock, clay slate, 
primary limestones, talcose slate, cambrian, 
upper silurian, old red sandstone to the carbonif- 




MANUFACTURE OF COAL. 



330 



HISTORY OF A DROP OF WATER. 405 

erous system, where we met with heated rock, 
and were changed to vapor. 

8. Now pressing our way past the permian, 
triassic, lias, oolite, welden, chalk, tertiary, drift 
and alluvium, we rose into the air above an 
eagle's flight, where we could look down upon 
what was going on below. 

6. The earth's crust had been "broken up." 
The western half was hurled away to a great 
distance. South America was thrown out and 
twisted around, leaving an enormous chasm for 
the waters beneath and on each side to fill, rush- 
ing in, until the earth would seem convulsed to 
its center. 

10. An enormous tidal-wave started over 
Siberia, which, when it reached the vicinity of 
the ark, was still twenty-two feet abreast. The 
islands of Australasia swayed out into the 
mighty deep. Greenland was turned completely 
around. The Pacific Slope was lifted up, and 
out of the sea. 

11. The waters pressed so heavily upon Asia, 
that it sunk, giving the sea possession until the 
earth had established itself in its new polarity, 
removed two thousand miles from its former 
place. 

12. My journeyings since have been romantic 
indeed. Whenever the sun kisses me, I turn to 
vapor, and ascend to visit other climes. Rising 
in June from Havana, I am wafted high in the 



406 HISTORY OF A DROP OF WATER. 

heavens over Peru, to be poured down upon the 
plains of the Argentine Kepublic. 

13. Kising from thence in December, I am pre- 
cipitated upon the valley of the Sacramento. I 
am the only drink designed for mankind. The lily 
and the forest tree, alike seek my acquaintance, 
I hang the rainbow on my brow. I bear up the 
largest ships, and turn the machinery of the 
world. I lave the brow of the sick, and relieve 
the wounded and dying. 

14. I can float upon the surface, or sink deeper 
than any metal. I have visited the highest 
mountains, and descended to the lowest deeps. 
I ride upon the whirlwind and make the largest 
storm. 

15. I am older than the earth, more subtile 
than air, and yet I am only one of the humblest 
of all God's creatures, a drop of water. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. In what condition did man find the earth ? 
What prospects lay before him ? 

What was the local name of Adam's home ? 
To what might it more generally be applied? 
To whom was the earth commiited ? Gen. 1 : 26. 
How was it given ? 

2. What may be said of things entrusted ? 
Does this remark include the earth ? 

Under what circumstances should it remain a 
garden ? 




PORT JACKSON SHARK— CHEIRACANTHUS. 



336 



HISTORY OF A DROP OF WATER. 407 

What would take the ^garden nature away? 
Where were these conditions applied ? 
What graphic language embodies them ? * 
Gen. 2:16, 17. 

3. What became of man when he rebelled? 
Of what was this an emblem ? 

What was about to roll over the earth? 
When man ceassd to be loyal, was it unreason- 
able for God to change " times and seasons? " 
What prophet alludes to this?* Dan. 2: 21. 

4. Upon what did God determine ? Gen. 3: 17. 
What was the effect upon the years of his pro- 
bation ? 

5. What part of God's curse against sin changed 
man's probation ? 

Personified, wha t does water say ? 

6. What is farther said ? 
What now ? 

Approximately, how long had he been hidden 
from sunlight ? 

7. What then? 

How would he ascend ? 
What did he go past ? 
With what did he meet there ? 
Into what was he converted ? 

8. What did he now pass ? 
Where did he rise ? 
What could he do ? 

9. What changes had taken place ? 
What became of the western half ? 
What of South America ? 



408 HISTOEY OF A DROP OF WATER. 

What followed ? 

10. What rolled over Siberia ? 
How high was it about the ark ? 
What of the islands of Australasia ? 
What of Greenland ? 

What of the Pacific slope ? 

11. What effect upon Asia ? 

How long did the waters have possession of 
Asia? 

How far was the old pole from the present ? 

12. What have been his journeyings ? 
What is the e3ect of the sun's kiss ? 

Bising in J une from Havana, over what does 
he float ? 

Where alight ? 

13. Rising from thence in December, where 
does he alight ? 

What is said of it as a drink ? 
What seek his acquaintance ? 
What does he hang on his brow ? 
What else does he do ? 
What are his deeds of mercy ? 

14. What changes of gravity ? 
Is this all that might be said ?* 
What of his visits ? 

Where does he ride ? 
What does he make ? 

15. What of his age ? 
What of hissubtility? 
What does he profess to be ? 



a8kW*l c? 




MAN'S OKIGINAL STATE. 



LESSON LXXV. 



"Thou inadest man a little lower than the angels. Thou- 
didst set him over the works of thv hands." Heb. 2: 7. 



1. The Scriptures speak of man's home at first 
as a garden. This term is probably used in its 
figurative sense. Garden naturally suggests 
family residence, home, comfort and plenty. 

2. Such ill general must have been the earth 
between the parallels of eighty and twenty, but 
especially in the region of the home of our first 
parents. 

3. With the sun's rays ever cheering him, and 
yet of sufficient slant as to give a moderate temper- 
ature, he encountered no adverse winds, no 
chilling storms to render him nervous and discon- 
tented, no treacherous frosts to nip the flower, 
no moulding mildew to blast the fruit, no with- 



410 man's original state. 

ering drought to cut off his bread. In a word, 
with all nature attuned to profit, cheer, comfort 
and exhilarate him in life's work, he had a 
" Garden of Eden," of God's own planting. 

4. His own organic status was that of "upright- 
ness." This term equally applied to his three- 
fold nature. He possessed a physical nature 
capable of the greatest endurance. His meas- 
ured years of probation upon the earth were to 
outnumber those of the trees. Even then, he 
was to be proof against mortality, by gently tak- 
ing the spiritual state by translation. 

5. Intellectually he was a prophet. His intui- 
tions were all correct. His prophetic powers 
were subject to his volition ; i. e., he could fore- 
see what his safety, or convenience made neces- 
sary. 

6. His spiritual relations with God and the 
universe were those of innocence. His first, and 
every moral act would give him character. It is 
not strange that God made his action the basis 
of his physical, intellectual, and moral standing. 
The importance of complete obedience to God, 
with the advantages to enable him to render it, 
were such as to warrant the motive of life, or 
death, as set before him. 

7. This motive was as high as heaven, as deep 
as hell. That there should be nothing lost in 
the appeal of this motive to man, it was affixed 
to law as a statute of the Almighty, to be enforced 
by every consideration of the universe. 



man's original state. 411 

8. Hence the moral state of man was that of law- 
keeping. He still finds the tendencies of his 
better nature looking in this direction. With all 
the physical curses entailed upon the earth, man 
is not deprived of the privilege of keeping law 
and living thereby. 

9. The way is open to all to show claim to God's 
righteous favor and approbation by an exact 
compliance to law. Until that compliance has 
been given, throughout one's entire life, the 
Pharisaic claim of merited heaven might as well 
be omitted. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. How do the Scriptures speak of man's first 
home ? 

How is the term used ? 
What does garden signify ? 

2 . What must have been the general character 
of the earth ? 

About how many miles is Ararat from Eng- 
land ?* 

Where was the first home of Adam ?* 

What special advantages would this region 
then have as to climate? 

What as to water ? 

3. What is said of winds ? 
Of frosts ? 

Of mildew ? 
Of drought? 



412 man's okiginal state. 

What were then his relations to nature ? 
Does nature now harmonize with man as we 
find him? 

4. What was his organic status ? 
To what may this word apply ? 
What is said of his physical nature ? 

How long was he calculated to enioy an earthly 
Eden? 

How was his earthly sojourn to terminate ? 

Have we any examples of this mode of termin- 
ating life?* Gen. 5: 24. 2 Kings 2: 11. 

5. Intellectually, what was he ? 
What were his intuitions ?* 
What is an intuition ?* 

To what were his prophetic powers subject ? 
By what only were they limited ? 
Would not this power guard him from casu- 
alties?* 

6. What were his spiritual relations ? 

What distinction may we make between moral 
and spiritual natures ? * Bev. 14:5. Kom. 7: 6. 

What addition would this first moral act give 
to Adam's spiritual nature ? 

What relation have moral acts to nature ? 

What original motive was given to obedience ? 

What rendered this appropriate? 

7. How great is the motive? 

What is this covenant- called? Eom. 7: 1. 
What constantly reminds us of this law cove- 
nant ? 



1 




FOUNTAINS OF THE DEEP BROKEN UP. 



404 



man's original state. 413 

8. What then is the normal state of man? 
How far is life to the soul, jet imparted through 

the law? * Bom. 10:5. 

To what do the higher tendencies cf our nature 
incline ? 

Is man compelled to sin ? 

9. Is man deprived, by nature, of the privilege 
of claiming heaven as a right ? 

Can he claim a right to God's approbation 
short of complete obedience ? * 

Has any human being kept God's law ? * Mat. 
3:17. 

Has any of the race except Jesus ?* Ps. 14: 2, 3. 

What- can we say for ourselves ? 

In view of the universality of sin, how does 
man appear in claiming never to have done any- 
thing worthy of God's condemnation ? * 



MAN IN GODS IMAGE. 



LESSON LXXVI 



In the imaee of God created he him."— Gen. 1: 2" 



1. The belief has been entertained that God 
possesses a form, the image of which is seen in 
the form of man. God is a spirit. A spirit 
contrasts with form. Christ replied to the 
affrighted beholders " A spirit hath not flesh and 
bones as ye see me have." 

2. The term image here must refer to man's 
spirit. It will be our purpose to enquire whether 
it refers to the moral character, or to the spirit, 
as a created, identity. 

3. The belief more common is, that the image 
of God here is that of his holiness. Moral char- 
acter is not a creatable* object. It is the result 
of free action. God's image, in the sense of 
character, could not be produced by an act of 
creation. 




TIDAL WAVE REACHING THE ARK.— Gen. 7: 11. 406 



MAN IN GOD S IMAGE. 415 

4. The nature of moral character precludes the 
possibility of its transmission to offspring, its 
transference to another, or its imputation to a 
third. Hence, the idea of character must be 
excluded from a merely created intelligence, until 
acting for himself. 

5. There are certain attributes of God, usually 
called natural, which are susceptible of being- 
imaged in creation. Among these was the attri- 
bute of immortality. Clearly God :s able to 
make a being indestructablf. But he is not able 
to make a being destructable and inclestruc table 
at the same time. If therefore the image of God 
here includes his immortality, God himself can- 
not annihilate him It is no irreve: ence to s vy 
that God cannot do a false, or an absud thing. 

6. Moses' language makes it the more evident 
that immortality was meant. "God breathed 
into his nostrils the bi'eath of life, and man be- 
came a living soul," i. e. ; an immortal existence. 
The terms of life and death, meaning reward and 
punish ineut, are used in another sense than 
existence. 

7. Death literally signifies separation. Hence 
by an easy figure of speech, it has been applied 
to the soul, when separate from the love of God 
in action, or failing to gain the approbation of 
God in reward; but never in reference to the 
body or soul, does it include annihilation. 

8. Immortality is not a natural element of any 



416 MAN IN GOD'S IMAGE. 

organized body. All organic bodies are formed 
of constituent elements. The separation of these 
would cause death. 

9. - Man, in his sinless state, is supposed to have 
been approaching a change, in which immortality 
of the organic being would have been gained. 

10. Immortality is used in three different senses. 
First, in reference to the soul's existence. 
Secondly, in reference to the spiritual body. 
Thirdly, in reference to God's approval. 

The last two are represented as spiritual gifts ; 
the first is an act of nature. 

11. Two ways have been revealed of obtaining 
immortality of the body, viz: translation and 
resurrection. Enoch illustrates the one, Christ 
Jesus the other. "By man came death, so by 
man came the resurrection." "This mortal 
must put on immortality." Yet Paul adds, 
"Adam was made a living soul." 

12. God dwelleth in light with immortality 
unapproachable. Not so with man's immor- 
tality ; we can see when and where it commences. 
Its continuance, like God's existence, exceeds 
human comprehension. 



questions. 
1. What idea has been entertained of God ? 
What form are we apt to give him ? 
What is God ? 
With what does spirit contrast ? 




FLOOD AT ITS CLIMAX.— Gen. 7: 24. 



408 



MAN IN GOD'S IMAGE. 417 

What did Christ say ? Luke 24: 39. 
2. To what must the term ' ' image of God " refer ? 

What will be the subject of the present 
inquiry ? 

What is the more common belief ? 

What is said of moral character ? 

Of what is it the result ? 

Could an act of creation give the moral image 
of God ? 

4. What does the nature of moral character 
preclude ? 

Are we morally responsible for the sins of our 
ancestors?* Ezek. 18:2, 3. 

Can the moral act of another become ours, only 
as we endorse it ?* Luke, 11 : 48, 49. 

5. Are any of the attributes of God such, that 
the image of them might be created ? 

What do we find among these ? 

What is immortality ? 

Has not God power to impart indestruct- 
ibility? 

Can immortality and mortality be given to a 
person at the same time, and in the same sense ? 

Is there power to annihilate an immortal being? 

Is there any irreverence in saying that God 
cannot do a false or absurd thing ? 

6. "VMat dees Mcses' largnsge shew ? 
What quotation is made ? 

In what sense are they not used, when spoken 

of as reward ? 

27 



418 MAN IN GOD'S IMAGE. 

7. What does death signify ? 

How may death apply to acts lacking God's 
co-operation ? 

How to reward, meriting disapproval ? 

8. Has any organized body, immortality ? 
Of what are all organic bodies composed ? 
What takes place on separation ? 

9. To what would man, in a sinless state, 
approach ? 

Without death how might he have attained it ?* 
Gen. 5 : 24. 

10. In how many senses is immortality used ? 
What is the first ? 

What the second ? 
What the third ? 
How are the last two used ? 
How the first? 

11. What two ways have been revealed of 
obtaining the immortality of the body ? 

Who are given as illustrations ? 

By whom came death ? 

By whom the resurrection ? 

What must this mortal body put on ? 

To what immortality does Paul allude ? 

12. What ever surrounds God ? 
What can be said of his immortality ? 
Can this be said of man's ? 

Cannot we approach the beginning of man's 
immortality ? 

What cannot we approach, even in man's? 
Do you believe the soul, by nature, immortal ?* 



TKIAL AND ITS BENEFITS. 



LESSON LXXVIL 



"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation. 
James 1 : 12. 



]« We have seen that moral character cannot be 
created. It is equally evident that there is bnt 
one way of obtaining it. The life must be sub- 
ject to trial. 

2. For this purpose, the principles of right and 
wrong must be clearly denned. The motive to 
action must be sufficient, and the reward ade- 
quate to give true action. That action must be 
understood to be connected with great conse- 
quences. Hence, the decided character of moral 
action. 

3. God, with his law of righteousness enforced 
by infinite rewards, represents one side of the 



420 TRIAL AND ITS BENEFITS. 

chain of circumstances, culminating in induce- 
ments to right. Under these circumstances, 
infinite consequences inhere to action. None 
other should aggregate the conduct of an im- 
mortal intelligence. None other are adapted to 
secure obedience. 

4. We have seen that man's nature was pro- 
nounced upright and good. The side opposite 
to God cannot, therefore, be represented by any- 
thing within man's nature. The influence caus- 
ing the temptation, must come from without. 

5. Such is the state of things, when Satan, 
excelling in subtleness, is introduced as the 
champion of the other side. Then, as now, he 
could only appeal to the lower passions. As in 
Job's case, farther than to give bounds, beyond 
which he might not pass, no interference with 
his plans was suffered. The discipline is needed 
and the result must follow. 

6. In our first parents, we have the trial and 
the failure to keep covenant with God. In Jesus 
of Nazareth, we have the trial, and the tempter 
completely vanquished. 

7. The path to greatness is through- trial ; it 
may be through suffering. With God to guard 
us, that we are not unduly tried, we have nothing 
to fear, but everything to hope from temptation. 
When true to God and ourselves, we are enriched 
in proportion to the severity of the discipline. 

8. We must learn to do duty. Do it, when 



TRIAL AND ITS BENEFITS. 421 

Satan can make strong points for neglect. 
Do it, when human examples all fail to help us. 
Do it, for the love of God and the right. 

9. Temptations, when sought after, become 
armed with power to destroy. But when they 
find us in the vale of humility, they generally 
leave us nearer God than when they came. In 
view of this, our Saviour gave us that clause in 
the model prayer, " Lead us, not into temptation, 
but deliver us from evil." 

10. The excuses that men make of being 
tempted to sin, are extremely weak apologies for 
wrong. Development is to be desired, the price 
of which is trial. The endurance of hardness as 
a good soldier, is a part of the discipline of a 
good life. So far from despairing under tempta- 
tion, we should rejoice in the rich prospects of 
.fruits to be enjoyed from a successful resistance. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What have we seen. 
What is equally evident ? 

To what must man be subject? 
Would it be a kindness to shield a human 
being, so as to prevent any temptation to evil ? * 

2. What must be given for moral development ? 
What kind of motives must they have? 

Will motives, less than infinite, do ? * 

By what is moral action usually stimulated ? 



422 TRIAL AND ITS BENEFITS. 

With what must the action be connected ? 
Is it possible for any one to measure the con- 
sequences of human action ? 

3. In what position does God stand to the pro- 
bationer ? 

What inheres to action ? 

What kind of motives seem adapted to man's 
relations . 

Could motives short of life and death do ? * 

4. What judgment did God pronounce on man s 
nature ? 

Could this nature represent the side opposite 
to God, in the chain of motives ? 

5. Who is introduced as the champion of the 
other side ? 

To what are his appeals ? 

How far does God suffer the well disposed to 
be tempted ? 

Is temptation needed ? 

Are the rewards, that follow moral law, arbi- 
trary, or such as necessarily inhere to the act ?* 

6. What do we have in Adam ? 
What do we have in Jesus ? 

7. Through what is the path of greatness ? 
What else may be added ? 

To what extent benefitted ? 

8. What must we learn ? 

Can Satan make a strong appeal to other, than 
the lower nature in man ? 



TRIAL AND ITS BENEFITS. 423 

Does the absence of human example in right- 
eousness, in the least justify wrong ? 

Is there not great weight in human influence ?* 
What is the highest motive of human action ? 

9. Do not men run into temptation?* 
With what does lust arm temptation ? * 
How is it when temptation is resisted ? 
Eepeat the Lord's Prayer, concerning tempta- 
tion. 

Is there any danger that God will lead us into 
temptation ? * 

After "Lead us," how should we regard the 
clause ? * 

10. What may be said of excuses for sin ? 
Ought we not to desire development? 
What is the price of it ? 

Has great goodness ever been reached, except 
through severe trial ? 

Should temptation cause despair ? 
How should we feel ? James 1:2, 3. 



SIN AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 



LESSON LXXVIII. 



Sin lieth at the door." — Gen. 4: 7. 



1. Divinely denned, "Sin is the transgression 
of the law." Paul says, "Where there is no law 
there is no sin." Again, "I was alive without 
the law once." Positively, " To him who know- 
eth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." 
These are the leading and only true definitions of 
sin. 

2. By a figure of Metonymy in the Bible, where 
the wide spread evils of sin are organically traced, 
it may seem to be ascribed to organic acts in 
which the party was passive. But that sin is 
not produced in this way, is evident by the bold 
and frequent protests against the assumption 
that sin can be inherited, transmitted, or trans- 
ferred. 



SIN AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 425 

3. The consequences of sin are three-fold; moral, 
intellectual, and physical. The most direct is 
the penalty proper. "In the day that thou eat- 
est thereof, thou shalt surely die." Condemna- 
tion entered, and with it an untold train of evils. 
Guilty, he hides from his God. Man cannot be 
separate from the approbation of God, without a 
consequent alienation of mind. 
4 Man was made a prophet. The prophetic 
power was beclouded, then obscured to the great- 
est uncertainty, until with the masses, it was lost. 
Sinful man turned his natural faculties to his 
own spiritual disadvantage. 

5. Eef using the light of natural revelation, he 
sought out causes beyond his ability, and became 
a speculative theorist of a false philosophy. 
Not liking to retain God in his memory, he was 
led to deny Him. 

6. With the decay of the more ennobling and 
spiritual faculties, came the abnormal growth of 
the animal and sensual. Hence the hatred, 
revenge, fornication, strife, and utter selfishness 
of our race. 

7. With the debasement of mind and soul, the 
body loses its natural protector, and physical 
consequences of sin multiply. Among them 
may be ranked the organic tendencies of our 
being. "We are prone to evil as the sparks fly 
upward." 

8. The soul could not be debased without drag- 
ging down all the faculties of man. Hence, the 



426 SIN AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 

consequences of sin are found reaching down 
through his mental, even to his physical being. 
Sin follows up the transgressor, through these 
laws to the third and fourth generation. 

9. Under these accumulative evils, it was not 
well always, to continue to man the lengthened 
years of his early probation. It was cut short, and 
a quick work of righteousness demanded. "For 
a short work will the Lord do upon the earth." 

10. The earth is cursed for man's sake. It 
stands to-day a dismembered monument of God's 
hatred to sin. It hurls into his face the terrible 
fiat, "By the sweat of thy brow shalt thou gain 
thy bread, and in sorrow shalt thou eat of it." 

11. Physical death came not as the penalty, 
but as a consequence of sin. " So death passed 
upon all men, in that all have sinned," i. e. the 
physical consequences have reached all, therefore 
all must die. This is the more evident from the 
Apostle's own interpretation, "Death reigned 
from Adam to Moses, even over them who had 
not sinned after the similitude of Adam's trans-, 
gression." 

12. Passively received, yet not the less terrible 
are the organic results of sin. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. Has God defined sin ? 
What is it ? 



SIN AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 427 

What does Paul say ? 

Are infants sinners ? * 

At what period of Paul's life was he alive with- 
out law ? * 

How else is sin defined ? 

Are not the sins of omission, often, of equal 
magnitude with those of commission ? * 
2. What is a figure of Metonymy ?* 

Is it not common to meet with Bible language 
where causes are put for effects ? 

What bold protests against a triune of error 
has the Bible made ? Ezek. 18: 2, 3. 
3* What may be said of the consequences of 
sin? 

What are they ? 

What is the most direct ? 

Does not the true penalty commence with the 
act? 

What entered with condemnation ? 

What does guilt lead men to do ? 

What follows moral degradation ? 

4. What was man by nature ? 
What effect had sin upon prophecy ? 
How does sin turn the natural faculties ? 
What advantages might be derived, from a 

mind naturally skeptical?* 

5. What is natural to the unrenewed heart ? 
What is necessary to guide a person into true 

philosophy ?* 

What was man led to do ? 



428 SIN AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 

6. What resulted from moral degradation ? 
Can the mind maintain independence against 

the degraded soul ? * 

7. What does the body lose in sin ? 
What results follow ? 

Are not some persons born with stronger pro- 
pensities to evil than others ? 

8. What general results follow sin ? 

9. Would it be well to allow sin to accumulate, 
in the same man, for many centuries ? 

What did God do for his sake ? Gen. 7: 11. 
What does God demand ? 

10. How has sin affected the earth ? Dan. 2: 21 
How does the earth stand to us ? 

What fiat does it present ? 

11. What caused physical death ? 

Who, of the human race, have not sinned ?* 

12. In what manner does man receive the 
organic effects of sin ? 

Are not these effects greatly under the influence 
of will and habit ? * 



^m^^ 



THE RELATION OF SACRIFICE TO SIN. 



LESSON LXXIX. 



" For every high priest, taken from among men, is 
ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may 
offer both gifts and sacrifices for sin." — Heb. 5: 1. 



1 . Propitiatory sacrifices pertain to the covenant 
of grace. Hence we find them instituted soon 
after the introduction of sin. The thing to be 
sacrificed, the manner of doing it, and the state 
of mind with . which the worshiper should ap- 
proach the altar; were all prescribed by God. 

2. Cain brought an offering, but failed to 
comply. Abel brought his in compliance with 
the requirement, and received assurance of 
acceptance. Sacrifices were illustrated sermons, 
preaching the means, and impressing the assur- 
ance of pardon. 

3. Sacrifices were not intended to render God 
propitious. To suppose God wanting in mercy, 



430 RELATION OF SACRIFICE TO SIN. 

or to possess a justice that would be offended at 
the judicious application of pardon, is to suppose 
him less than infinite. Sinful man needed the 
teachings of sacrifices, to show the way back to 
God. 

4. Sacrifices were designed to act subjectively, 
and objectively, upon the worshiper. As an 
object to contemplate, God's prescribed sacrifices 
were full of divine teachings, shadowing sin, and 
presenting the mercy of God. 

5. "We are not left to conjecture what was the 
voice of the several parts of the sacrifice. The 
blood was made to signify the life. Hence the 
life of the worshiper was naturally contrasted 
with the life of the innocent victim. 

'6. The voice of the blood of bulls, goats, lambs 
and doves, could never rise higher than negative 
goodness, or mere innocence. The life of Jesus 
was one of positive holiness ; hence the better 
voice of his blood. 

7. The mercy of God was something announced, 
to be verified rather by the circumstances sur- 
rounding the sacrifice, than by the sacrifice 
itself. He, who declared that, under some cir- 
cumstances the very stones would cry out, made 
the dumb victim of sacrifice to speak his good- 
ness, and show his power. 

8. In these things man brought the sacrifice, 
and God met and blessed him. But in Christ's 
offering, God himself furnished the victim, not 



RELATION OF SACRIFICE TO SIN. 431 

for an individual, or for one nation, but for the 
whole world. This act not only avowed and 
then verified, but it was in itself, a gift of the 
greatest mercy. '"God so loved the world that 
he gave his only Son." 

9. In other sacrifices, the life dimly set forth 
holiness unto God, in not being sinful; but in 
Christ Jesas, we have positive righteousness 
bslonging to an entire life. This life becomes 
•our example; the effort to follow which, in the 
light of God's revealed mercy, subjects the heart 
in righteousness. Hence, "The blood of Jesus 
Christ cleanseth us from all sin." 

10. Blood becomes the emblem of the subjective 
influence over the heart. When fully within its 
influence, man becomes changed; and hence, 
shows the image of Christ. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. To what do sacrifices pertain? 
When were they instituted? 

By whom ? 

Was the animal, to be sacrificed, divinely 
appointed ? 

2. What is said of Cain ? 
What is said of Abel ? 
What of sacrifices? 
What did they teach ? 

3. Were they designed to influence God? 



432 RELATION OP SACRIFICE TO SIN. 

What knowledge of God is necessary, beyond 
what nature furnishes, before the soul can sue 
for pardon ? 

Does anything, except ignorance and impeni- 
tence, hinder the granting of pardon?* 

What sacrifice has perfected this teaching ? * 

What is now necessary, before the gospel 
becomes practical to the heathen? Eom. 10: 
14, 15. 
4. What is the legitimate action of sacrifices ?" 

As an objective influence, what were their 
teachings ? 

How could a sacrifice shadow forth sin ? * 
5 Did God explain the significance of sacrifice ? 

Of what was the blood an emblem ? Lev. 17 : 
11. 

6. What was the voice of the blood of beasts ? 
Was the value of the beast a part of the 

offering ? * 

What was the life of Jesus ? Matt. 3: 17. 

What would be the voice of his blood ? 

Did Paul ever attribute our salvation to the 
life of Christ ? Eom. 5:10. 

7. How did the Jews obtain a knowledge . of 
God's mercy ? 

At God's command, may not an inanimate 
thing have given to it a voice ? * 
What did he say of the stones ? 
What power did he give these sacrifices ? 

8. Who furnished beast sacrifices? 



RELATION OF SACRIFICE TO SIN. 433 

How did they become means of blessings ? 

Who furnished the great sacrifice ? 

For whom ? 

What was the act ? 

What its official showing ? 

What is said of God ? 

9. How does the blood of Jesus compare with 
that of beasts ? 

What does his entire life declare ? 

What does the life become to us ? 

What inward change is wrought by an attempt 
to follow Christ? 

What is said of his blood ? 

Is that to be understood as a price paid to 
God, or an example given to us ? * 

10. ' Of what is Christ's blood the emblem ? 
Kom. 5:10. 

Does his life save, farther than we copy it ? 
By what is man forgiven ? Eph. 2:5. 
Are these principles of salvation as free to all, 
as to any one ? * 



28 



« 



THE KELATION OF SACRIFICES TO 
BLESSINGS. 



LESSON LXXX. 



" He shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, unleav 
ened cakes, mingled with oil." — Lev. 6 : 12. 



1. Sacrifices were not always designed to make 
atonement for sin. Some were adapted to call 
forth, and by figure express, a heartfelt gratitude 
to God, for his blessings in nature and grace. 

2. The call for thanksgiving did not have its 
birth in sin. It is co-equal with man's supplied 
wants. In man's primeval state, he was sur- 
rounded by every evidence of the care and prov- 
ident hand of God. 

3. Gratitude is a necessity in the good. Man 
could not have been perfect without it. Hence, 
the call to gratitude must have been among his 
first duties. 



RELATION OF SACRIFICES TO BLESSINGS. 435 

4. The manner of expressing it then, and since, 
widely differed. Then he held direct converse 
with his God. His heart beat in unison with the 
divine mind. There was no gulf existing between 
the moral character of God, and that of man. 
Hence, conversation between the heart and Deity 
was natural. 

5. In sin all is estranged. Man feels his way 
back by degrees, from the terrible darkness of 
sin. He could not do this, only as aided by 
revelation's light. Hence, the institution of 
sacrifices. Even homage in thanksgiving, was 
rendered through sacrifices. 

6. All things, grown or raised, had to be redeemed 
through offerings. Three times a year, all the 
males were to appear before God. Two of these 
festivals were of the nature of thanksgiving. A 
scanty harvest formed no exception. 

7. A general sense of unworthiness pervaded 
the life of the true worshiper. His dependence 
on God was absolute. Humility was, and is, a 
condition of acceptance with God or man. 

8. Since sin is universal, it follows that a thank- 
offering, substituted for one of atonement, must 
have been highly offensive to God. Such an 
offering was Cain's . Ignoring his sins, he brought 
a sheaf of wheat in place of the lamb. 

9. Even now the Deist denies special revelation, 

and tries to draw near to God through nature's 

works. No wonder he finds so little spiritual 
recognition. 



436 KELATION OF SACRIFICES TO BLESSINGS. 

10. The voice of nature, and the voice of revela- 
tion, must both be heard , to perfect man in 
righteousness. 

11. Christ has led the way in the great and 
sufficient atoning sacrifice, and we are thrown 
back to heart-converse with God, as a means of 
expressing thanksgiving to him. 

12. There are two general channels for its com- 
munication, viz : prayer and praise. 

13. Nor can either one be substituted for the 
other. Each in its place will be acceptable to 
God ; either, without the other, would be offen- 
sive. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. Were all sacrifices for the same purposes ? 
What were some ? 

What were these called?* 2 Ohron. 29: 31. 

2. Does the call for gratitude originate in sin ? 
How far back does it date ? 

With what was man surrounded ? 
What ought this to beget ? 

3. What is said of gratitude ? 

Could man make the proper progress without it? 
What may we infer as. to the duty of gratitude? 
Where would the sin of ingratitude be placed ? 

4. Was the manner of expressing thanksgiving 
then, and since, alike? 



RELATION OF SACRIFICES TO BLESSINGS. 437 



How did man then communicate with his God ? 

Until within two thousand years, how has he 
since? 

With whom were his heart's desires in har- 
mony ? 

What is said of their moral natures ? 

What was the exercise of prayer then? 

Is it now natural for man to hold converse 
with God?* Job 21, 15. 

5. How does man return from a condition of 
sin? 

Is revealed light equally clear to all ? * 
What was the design of sacrifices ? 
How was thanksgiving rendered ? 

6. What is said of things raised or grown? 
How many times a year were the males of Israel 

to appear ? 

What were two of these festivals ? 

Would a scant harvest be an excuse for neg- 
lect ? 

7. What distinguishing characteristic of Chris- 
tianity is given ? 

How far dependent ? 
What is said of humility ? 

8. What would have been the consequence of 
substituting a thank offering for atonement ? 

What is supposed to have been Cain's offering ? 
What must he have ignored ? 
What did he bring ? 
What ought he to bring ? 



438 KELATION OF SACRIFICES TO BLESSINGS. 

9. Have we yet worship, analogous to Cain's ? 
Through what does Deism worship ? 

What must be the result ? 

Can nature point us back to God ?* 

10. What must we have ? 

Is the gospel designed to supersede nature, or 
to supplement it ? 

11. Who has led the way in sacrifice? 
To what are we brought ? 

12. What are the natural channels for thanks- 
giving ? 

13. Ought we to substitute one for the other ? 
What may be said of each ? 

What of either, should it be continued alone ? 

Is not the custom of setting apart days for 
public thanksgiving, in harmony with the Chris- 
tian system ?* 



(5>^?)0 



THE UTILITY OF PKAYEB. 



LESSON LXXXI. 



Men ought always to pray." — Lu. 18: 1, 



1. Prayer involves desire, yet not all desire is 
prayer. Prayer involves faith in God. Not all 
faith is sufficient to make prayer beneficial. 
Efficient prayer involves peculiar and energetic 
states of mind. 

2. Earnestness is the soul of prayer, no less 
than of eloquence. True, much that is called 
eloquence, is lacking in earnestness. It passes 
for eloquence through finely dressed sentences, 
rounded periods, and pleasing intonations. Still 
the deeply earnest man, other things being equal, 
will ever bear off the palm of victory. 

3. So in prayer ; only there are no counterfeits 
here. If a man have earnestness in humility, 



440 UTILITY OF PRAYER. 

he prevails in the thing needed. If he have not, 
no amount of words will prevail. 

4. Prayer is not designed to move God to do 
for us, what he was previously unwilling to do, 
but to bring the mind into closer relations with 
truth and righteousness, where it will be consist- 
ent for God to bestow certain extraordinary 
blessings. 

5. Certainly, it may be consistent for God to 
condition his blessings on certain states of mind 
which are not ordinarily reached, except through 
prayer. Prayer is a means to an end. That 
end, when reachel, is always resplendent with 
the love of God. 

6. The grand design of personal, individual 
prayer is to affect the individual praying. Prayer 
is answered through its subjective influence upon 
the soul. 

7. Even where public prayer is designed to 
lead the masses in devotion, where to an extent 
it must be heard objectively, it succeeds only as 
the tracing thought follows, until subjectively' 
influenced. 

8. Prayer is designed to produce a subjective 
effect through the objective influence upon per- 
sons in the distance. The principles upon which 
the influence is brought about, are partly philo- 
sophic. Mind is in sympathy with mind, and to 
an extent under its influence. Distance makes 
no difference in the law. If there is genuine 



UTILITY OF PRAYER. 441 

sympathy there is a real influence over persons 
however remote. 

9. This natural influence is intensified by the 
rousing of the religious nature in the presence of 
God. God is the center as well as the strength 
of the human soul. Nowhere else can the soul 
be thus roused. Consequently, here alone it 
finds its needed power. 

10. When this power is gained, the means are 
in exercise, which the Holy Spirit can bless to 
the further awakening, and entire consecration of 
the soul. "The effectual fervent prayer of a 
righteous man availeth much." 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is prayer ? 
Is all desire prayer? 

What is essential to religious prayer ? 

Will any true faith in God answer ? 

Are all prayers alike in efficacy ? * Ja. 1:6, 7. 

What is involved in efficient prayer ? 

2. What is the soul of prayer ? 

Are all things eloquent that are reputed such ?* 
What has often been mistaken for eloquence ? 
What may still be said of earnestness ? 
Can any such mistakes happen in personal 
prayer ? * 



442 UTILITY OF PKAYEK. 

3. How is it in prayer ? 
What are the resultant facts ? 

If our prayers fail, where should we look for 
the defect ? * 

4. What is not the design of prayer ? 
What is the design ? 

Should not prayer be regarded as a privilege 
rather than a task ? * 

Are all equally ready to receive spiritual 
blessings ? * 

Do not extraordinary blessings call for corres- 
ponding states of the heart ? * 

Would not a lack of appreciation, destroy any 
spiritual gift of God ?* 

5. What is evidently God's prerogative ? 
How are we to regard prayer ? 

What characterizes the design of prayer ? 

6. What is the design of personal prayer ? 
How is it answered ? 

Has not God, at times, designated miracles, 
that were conditioned on praying?* 1 Kings 
18: 42. 

Do these exceptions change the rule as to 
design?* 

7. Upon what does success in public prayer 
depend ? 

How may prayer influence another person in 
the distance ? 



UTILITY OF PRAYER. 443 

What part would be objective in influence ?* 

8. What part subjective ? * 

Upon what principle is the objective brought 
about ? 

Upon what the subjective ?* 
What may be said of the mind ? 
Is it modified by distance ? 

9. By what is this influence intensified ? 
What may be said of God ? 

Can anything else be substituted ? 

10. What may be said of a person, fully under 
the power of prayer ? 

What Scripture is quoted ? 



^^:^3W^ 



OUR FATHEK. 



LESSON LXXXIL 



" Bat ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby^we 
cry, Abba, Father."— Rom. 8: 15. 



1. Belief and experience are not always the 
same. It is one thing to accept a theory of God, 
but another to experience the truth of that 
theory, through converse with Deity. A conse- 
crated Christian experience, only, can realize the 
tenderness of approval, expressed in this name, 
Heavenly Father. 

2. This is a term of the sweetest communion 
and fellowship. It is only "By the Spirit of 
adoption," that we can speak it. 

3. John the Baptist had attempted to instruct 
his disciples in the true nature of prayer. The 
effort must have pleased Christ's disciples. They 
came to Jesus asking him to instruct them 
likewise. 



OUR FATHER. 445 

4. Christ appeared to approve the request, and 
took occasion to give a discourse upon the sub- 
ject. A few simple sentences, as an example in 
"manner," were all he uttered. It has since 
been called the "Lord's Prayer. ' : 

5. He labored to impress upon them the import- 
ance of avoiding all effort at display. He alluded 
at length, to the fashion in his time, of sounding a 
prayer alarm at the corners of the streets ; of 
dressing in a prayer garment ; and of doing this 
"to be seen of men." 

6. He taught them that great length of prayer 
was not essential to be effectual ; that point, 
earnestness, and faith, were the three great 
characteristics of prayer. 

7. He especially warned them against making 
invidious comparisons with others, giving them 
the parable of the Pharisee and Publican. 

8. He taught them to shut the door against all 
such notoriety ; and enter at once into commun- 
ion with God, with the sole purpose of obtaining 
the object. 

9. He taught them that this object should not 
be one of lust, or selfishness ; but one rising in 
interest for the cause, until self becomes a minor 
consideration. 

10. Without such a preparation, it would be 
worse than useless to expect a hearing. Man 
must be prepared to say "Our Father," with the 
heart of a dutiful child, represented in the words. 



446 OUE FATHER. 

11. Not from the "earthquake, fire, or wind," 
did Elijah gain it ; but from the " still, small 
voice." 

12. While the sea saith "it is not in me," and 
the heavens are unable to "contain it," Jesus 
rose from his fearful struggle in the garden, say- 
ing, " I show you plainly of the Father." 

13. Above all, that the prayer must be subjec- 
tive, to be heard. The qualities in God, from 
which we implore relief, must have their image 
in the soul. "If ye forgive, ye shall be for- 
given." 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is said of belief ? 
What of theories ? 
What only can realize it ? 

2. What is said of this term ? 
By what means can we speak it ? 

3. What is said of John ? 

How did Christ's disciples regard it ? 

What did they do ? - 

Will Christ yet teach men to pray ?* - 

4. What did Christ do with the request ? 
What did he give them ? 

What prayers did he utter ? 
For what purpose ? 

5. What would he impress upon them ? 
To what did he allude ? 



OUR FATHER. 447 

What is said of this garment ? * Matt. 23 : 5. 
What did our Saviour say of this ? 

6. What did he say of long prayers ? 

What were the qualities of effectual prayer ? 

7. Against what did he warn them ? 
What did he give them ? 

8. Against what to "shut the door ? " 
Into what enter ? 

-With what purpose ? 

9. What instruction in motive ? 
To what should the mind rise ? 

10. What without it ? 

How should we say, "Our Father ? " 

11. From what, could not Elijah gain the 
knowledge of God ? 

What gave it ? 

12. What saith the sea ? Job 28: 12, 14. 
What the heavens? 1 Kings 8: 27. 
What does Jesus say ? John 16 : 25 . 

Was Jesus God, in an organic, or revealed 
sense ? * 

13. What inward effect must the prayer pro- 
duce ? 

Where must the qualities of God have their 
image ? 

What did Jesus say of forgiveness? Matt. 6: 

14. 15. 



GODS ABODE. 



LESSON LXXXIII 



Which art in Heaven."— Matt. 6: 9. 



1. The word heaven is used variously. It is 
used for the visible expanse. Sometimes it is 
used for the planetary orbs, with their centers of 
light. It is used for the abode of the finally 
blest. 

2. The intuitions of man ever place this home 
above him. They accommodate it to a local 
place. Man's reason affirms that the nearest 
conception of heaven, that we can gain at present, 
is that of a condition. 

3. In a sense, God is everywhere ; but he is not 
equally manifest in all places. There was a 
special sense in which he was in the Temple. 
There was a sense of justice and majesty, in 
which he was upon mount Sinai ; but another 



god's abode. 449 

sense in which he dwelt in Jesus ; and still 
another in his word. 

4. The highest sense of his manifestive presence, 
is in the final abode of the good. This is called 
heaven, and God dwells there . 

5. The ability to see God is subjective. Where 
no desire exists to enjoy God, no ability is given 
to see him. Hence the prophet said, "God was 
in the place, and I knew it not." 

6. God's abode is with such qualities, of mind, 
such purposes of soul, as distinguished Christ's 
mission on earth. " I in the Father, and the 
Father in me." "The pure in heart shall see God.'' 

7. Heaven, in the spirit-land, must be the fol- 
lowing up of these principles, in joy and adoration. 

8. Here God resides. He dwells in love ; and 
love will lead the soul to its rest in heaven. 

9. It is more than probable that the only way, 
that men or angels will ever see God, will be 
through such forms as he is pleased to manifest 
himself. 

10. The central form of his manifestations in 
heaven, must be alike to angels and men ; since 
the "first begotten" became our Saviour, and 
dwelt with us. Keturning, he possesses a name 
above all that is in heaven, or that is in earth, or 
that is under the earth. 

11. Man dies, "and the spirit returns to God 
who gave it." In so doing, it has disappeared 
not only from the sight of all earthly beings, but 

29 



450 god's abode. 

for the present, it may be from the heavenly. To 
be seen, the soul must be presented through form. 

12. That will be a "spiritual" form, given by 
Christ, at the resurrection of all men. It will 
be "fashioned like unto his own glorious body. 1 ' 

13. Until then, our spirits may occupy a posi- 
tion in heaven, similar to that held by spirit- 
forms among us now. We believe that they exist . 
They know fully of their own and our existence; 
but our modes of communication are different. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is said of the word heaven? 
How used in Gen. 1:8? 

How used in Gen, 2:4? 

For what else used ? Matt. 5: 12. 

How shall we know which ? * 

2. Where does man place heaven? 

To what does the mind accommodate it ? 
What does reason affirm ? 
Are not high states of enjoyment here called 
heaven ?* 

3. What is said of God ? 
What of God in the temple ? 
In what sense on mount Sinai ? 
In Jesus of Nazareth ? 

In his word ? 

4. Where is he in the highest sense ? 
What is said of it ? 



god's abode. 451 

5. What is the ability to see God? 

What connection has desire with ability ? 
WTiat did the prophet say ? 

6. Where then does God dwell ? 
What did Christ say ? 

To whom is this promise ? Matt. 5 : 8. 

7. What then must be our final abode ? 
Who are sure of this ? * Isa. 3: 10, 11. 

8. What is said of God? 

What will the love of the gospel do for us? 
What is the Christian's ideal ?* Matt. 28: 20. 

9. What is said of God? 

10. What of the central form ? 

What of him on his return ? Phil. 2: 9, 10. 

11. To what does the soul return at death ? 
From whose sight has it disappeared ? 

In what condition may it be seen ? 

12. What will the form be ? 
By whom given? 

At what time ? 

To what fashioned ? Phil. 3 : 21. 

13. To what may departed spirits be likened ? 
What is our relation to them ? 

What is theirs to us ? 

What are our prospects at the resurrection ? * 
What does Paul call this ? * Cor. 5: 2—4. 
Will not the spirit's clothing, or the form given, 
greatly increase the happiness of the departed ? * 



THE EEYEEENCE DUE HIS NAME. 



LESSON LXXXIV. 



Hallowed be thv name." — Matt. 6: 9. 



1. Names applied to Deity are accommodating 
titles. They serve as vehicles of communicating 
certain qualities or attributes of God, needful 
to be impressed upon the understanding of man, 
that he may rightly approach his Maker. 

2. The magnitude of this design is co-equal 
with the soul's interests: The conditional des- 
tiny, and inexpressible happiness, for which the 
soul is capable, clothe these names of God with 
a sacredness, that we cannot afford to have ren- 
dered common. 

3. These multiplied qualities, centering in God, 
are infinitely more than the mind can clothe in 
majesty, justice, mercy, friendship and love. 



REVERENCE DUE HIS NAME. 



453 



Principle holds them sacred in reverence. Affec- 
tion would ever cherish them in love. A true 
philosophy would hallow them for the most sacred 
purposes. 

4. God's name is sacred in its own vastness. 
Sublimity of vastness, from ths top of the moun- 
tain, is something. From the wave of the ocean, 
while the storm is increasing, it is more. 

5. Vastness is greatly increased, from a fancied 
seat in the orbit of a planet ; still more in the 
orbit of a sun ; but this is insignificant beside a 
seat upon the great central sun, with the grand 
universe in sight ; but what is the vast universe 
beside the name of its Maker. 

6. God's name should be sacred in its power. 
Let imagination clothe the leviathan of Job, 
the ichthyosaurus of the ancient seas, with the 
strength indicated by those well armed jaws, 
fifteen feet in length, sustained by that ponder- 
ous body of a score of tons, and you have some 
idea of power. 

7. Let it measure the winds that rocketh the 
ocean, weigh the earth, * 'standing in and out of 
the water," compute the earthquake, as it lifteth 
a continent ; but what are all these to those 
powers imparted to all revolving orbs. 

8. Insignificant, indeed, are all physical powers, 
when measured by Christ's ability "to save a soul 
from death, and to hide a multitude of sins." 

9. Here, justice and mercy, friendship and truth, 
blend as co-factors of his government. 



454 BEVERENCE DUE HIS NAME. 

10. Unthoughtful, and still more ungrateful 
must be that man or child, who can profane this 
name, either in anger or folly. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What are names as applied to God? 
How do they serve us ? 

What led to the necessity of various names? * 

2. What remark is made ? 
What relation to our happiness ? 

3. What is that name to us ? 

What would true principle say of them ? 
How would affection cherish them ? 
What would a true philosophy say of them ? 
Would not good manners hold this name 
sacred, in the presence of those who respect it ?* 

4. .What is farther said of it ? 

What may we gain- from the mountain top ? 

Where would it be increased ? 
6. From what fancied position would it be 
greater ? 

What would be still greater ? 

Beside what, would all these be small ? 

What is infinitely more in vastness, than all ? 
6. How else should it be sacred ? 

What ancient animal was selected as an emblem 
of power ? 

Will you read the forty first chapter of Job ?* 



REVERENCE DUE HIS NAME. 455 

7. What else will asist you to an idea of 
power ? 

What quotation is made ? 

What would a column of earth weigh, thirty 
miles high in air, one inch thick and wide ? 

Ans. About 420,750 pounds. 

What would a corresponding column of water, 
thirty miles deep, weigh ? 

Ans. 425,951 pounds. 

Would not the earth "stand in the water and 
out of the water," at this depth ? * 2 Pt. 3: 5. 

What other force might aid us ? 

What still greater powers ? 

What are these ? * 

8. What infinitely exceeds all finite powers ? 

9. -What meet here ? 

10. W T hat is said of profanity ? 

Do not profane words indicate, either a trifling 
or malignant soul ? * 



*W€%W* 



CHRIST'S KINGDOM 



LESSON LXXXV. 



" And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven 
set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed." — Dan. 
2:44. 

"The kingdom of God is come unto you."— Matt. 12: 28^ 



1. The Sovereignty of God is suggested in 
nature, and distinctly taught in the Bible. 
Daniel beheld a time, when God, in a revealed 
sense, would dwell among men as their Saviour, 
Leader, and King. Christ declared that time 
fulfilled in the revelations of his own life. 

2. An absolute kingdom is a government where 
one will predominates throughout the realm. In 
such a sense, God only is able to lead and dictate 
all other minds. Men have assumed this, but 
the government beneath them, has tended to 
abridge the people's liberties. 

3. Human kingdoms may have received the 
divine favor, for the same reason as that given 



Christ's kingdom. 457 

to ancient polygamy, viz : as a necessary hinder- 
ance to some terrible evil, ready to drag society 
still lower. But neither the one or the other 
has ever received God's sanction, as his ideal for 
these relations. 

4. The prophet's declaration of the results of 
the incoming Israeli tish kings, is a correct repre- 
sentation of all such governments, as a class. 

5. God's kingdom is fatherly in principle and 
feeling. It is, for this reason, the best guaran- 
tee for the most exalted freedom, the fullest 
happiness, and the largest prosperity. 

6. The known character of God is the warrant 
for justice, in mercy, so administered, as to leave 
no subject unthought of, no interest uncared for. 

7. As no change is possible with God, man 
owes it to himself, to be both subject, and heir, 
in this kingdom. 

8. We are so situated as to need his immediate 
assistance ; so inclined as to need his saving 
grace ; so utterly ruined as to need his redemp- 
tion from sin and death. 

9. God claims to guide, morally, only voluntary 
subjects. Man is designedly a subordinate sov- 
ereign. God's sovereignty is not enhanced by 
any detractions from man's. 

10. One of the grandest evidences that God is a 
complete Sovereign is, that he has enstamped his 
image so upon man, that no po\rer in Heaven, 
earth, or hell, can coerce him religiously. 



458 Christ's kingdom. 

11. The inauguration of this kingdom is grad- 
ual, and yet sublimely sure to triumph. Many 
years ago, a powerful monarch had a dream, cov- 
ering the stream of time, under human kingdoms, 
and the reign of righteousness. 

12. Gold, silver, brass, iron, clay and iron, 
passed before him . The kingdom of God was 
emblemized by a stone cut out of the mountain 
without hands. This was to fill the whole earth. 

13. John entered upon his ministry saying it 
" was at hand." Christ announced, "It cometh 
not by observation," Again, "It is within you.' 
Its growth is the advance of true piety. Its full 
grown majesty is the harvest of Christian labor. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is said of God's sovereignty. 
What did Daniel behold ? 

What did Christ declare ? 

2. What is a kingdom ? 
What is said of God? 
What of other kings ? 

3. Why has God favored them ? 
What has he not given them ? 

4. What is said of the prophets' declaration ? 

5. What is said of God's kingdom ? 
What follows ? 

6. What warrant does his character give us ? 

7. What is said of God ? 



Christ's kingdom. 459 

What duty does man owe himself? 

8. What is said of man's situation ? 
Of his inclination ? 

Of his ruined state ? 

9. Whom will God guide? 
What is man ? 

What remark about God ? 

10. What evidence of his complete Sovereignty ? 

11. What is said of its inauguration ? 

To what Bible history is reference made? 

12. What passed before him ? 

By what was God's kingdom shown ? 
What is its destiny ? 

13. What did John say ? Matt. 3:2. 
What did Christ say? 

What is its growth ? 
What its majesty ? 

What will then become of all wicked principles 
in human governments ? * 1 Cor. 15 : 24, 25. 



GODS WILL. 



LESSON LXXXVI. 



"This is the will of God, even your sanctification." — 
1 Thess. 4: 3. 



1. A god without a will would be inert. Except 
when thrown out of equilibrium by some, other 
agent, such a being, or element, would be incap- 
able of action. Such are the gods of all forms 
of Pantheism. Such, substantially, of all phases 
of the development theory. 

2. The God of revelation has a will. This will 
extends to the minutest circumstance in life. 

3. Causes are divided into physical and spiritual. 
Physical causes are divided into those inhering 
with matter, and those contingent with some- 
thing else. Inhering causes also reveal the will 
of God, inhering with them' in their results. 
Contingent causes refer to a fixed standard of 
his will. 

4. Spiritual causes are divided into those which 



god's will. 461 

are merely spiritual, those which are also intel- 
lectual, and those which are also both intellectual 
and moral. 

5. God's will inheres in the results following the 
causes put forth; but as to which cause shall be 
used, reference must be had to a fixed standard 
of his will. 

6. Man is free to use one or the other of all 
contingent causes. The effect, of the one he 
chooses, must follow as the established will of 
God. 

7. Hence, the prayer, "Thy will be done, 
refers to those contingent causes, over which we 
have choice. This is the point where harmony 
is obtained between God and the soul. 

8. Christ is the expressed will of the Father. 
Hence, he is our jneans of reconciliation to God. 
His life is our ideal, emblemized by blood. His 
grace is our fountain for healing and sustaining, 
emblemized by bread. The ideal, aimed at, 
insures the application of grace. Hence, "the 
Blood of Jesus cleanseth from all sin." 

9. God expresses, as a standard of his will, that 
"All men should come to the knowledge of the 
truth, that they may be saved. " So, he willed to 
have Israel walk in the ways of David, when fully 
consecrated to God's service. 

10. This class of expressions of God's will, does 
not necessarily inhere in men's acts and thoughts. 
Hence, the prayer which subjectively brings 



462 god's will. 

the soul to shape its acts and thoughts to the 
will of God. 

11. True prayer is the outward symbol of an 
inward consecration of the will of man to the 
superior will of God. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What of a God without a will ? 
When alone could he act? 
What of pantheistic gods ? 

Is action inherent in matter? * 
Where may we class the gods of the develop^ 
ment theory? 

2. What of our God ? 
How general is his will ? 

What does Jesus say ? * Matt. 10 : 30. 

3. How are causes divided? 
How are physical causes ? 
What do inhering causes reveal ? 
To what do contingent causes refer ? 
Under which class would gravitation be ? * 
Under which class would you place moral 

character ? * 

4. How are spiritual causes divided ? 

Under which would you place infantile inno- 
cence ? * 

Which, mathematical truths ?* 
Which, the law of love? * 



god's will. 463 

5. In what part, of all action, does God's will 
inhere ? 

For what part is man held accountable ? 

6. What is man's moral freedom ? 
What must follow his choice ? 

In selecting the act, is not man responsible 
for the effect ? * 

7. To what then does this clause of the prayer 
refer ? 

What remark is made ? 

8. To whom are we to look for the expressed 
will of God ? 

What is said of him ? 

What- is his life ? 

By what emblemized ? 

What is our fountain of healing ? 

By what emblemized ? 

What results ? 

What quotation is made ? 

9. What standard will, has God expressed ? 
Do all men comply ? * 

What other expressed will ? 
Did Israel comply ? * 

10. Does the standard class of God's will, neces- 
sarily inhere in man's acts,? 

What is the design of this prayer ? 

11. Of what is all true prayer the symbol ? 
What will be the measure of our success ? * 

James 4 : 3, 8, 15. 



OUR DAILY BREAD. 



LESSON LXXXVII. 



" Give us this day our daily bread." — Matt. 6: 11. 



1. In some respects, man is the most depend- 
ent of beings. He enters the world the most 
helpless of the animal race. In leaving it, he 
retains a power belonging only to man. 

2. Few ever know, and none can realize, until 
they come to bestow like care upon their own 
offspring, how tenderly they have been cared for. 

3. What ceaseless vigilance gave the sounds, 
letters and syllables, constituting their language ! 
What sleepless watchings guarded, and guided 
their youthful feet, lest they should stray ! 

4. Most children, can do but little, except as 
carefully shown. Nearly all that we can do well, 
we have learned to do. Our food, our shelter 
and clothing, have been provided. 



OUR DAILY BREAD. 465 

5. The relations which the child sustains to its 
parents, symbolizes the adult's relations to God. 
Without God's co-operation, man is incapable of 
providing for himself and others. 

6. Man is educated only as the mind becomes 
enlarged, and drawn out toward, and into the 
field of God's infinity. Here, without stint, and 
only here , has the material for intellectual food 
been wisely provided. 

7. If God does not teach us, we fail to become 
educated. Just where man forsakes God, his 
philosophy shows weakness. If he continues 
alienated, it degenerates into absurdities. 

8. As a religious being, man is still more 
dependent. Habits of sin have weakened his 
will-power for good, and greatly strengthened his 
passions for evil. 

9. With an unforgiven past, and a decreasing 
prospect in the future, man realizes the force of 
that Bible figure, of the pursuing " angel with a 
double edged sword," following him from the 
garden. 

10. It is the nature of sin to blind the soul, 
surrounding it with darkness ; while it creates 
increased wants, with no power to relieve. 

11. Hence, his dependence, as one lost, who 
must be sought by another; indifferent, he must 
be aroused; desponding, he must be encouraged. 

12. God has met the law of dependence with 

an equal law of supply. Everywhere, inearth, 

air and ocean; in physics, mind and spirit, God 
30 



466 OUR DAILY BREAD. 

has mot all wants with supply; yet man fails to 
be supplied, unless he co-operates with God. 

13. Most of our wants return at regular inter- 
vals. Honce, the appropriateness of these 
words, " Give us this day our daily bread." 

14. Again, our wants are such that no supply of 
one day will do in advance. We must have this 
supply daily. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is said of man? 
What as he enters life ? 
What in leaving it ? 

2. What can few know ? 
What is apt to remind us ? 

3. What note is taken ? 
What farther care ? 

4. What remark is made ? 
What great lack of originality? 
What constant provisions ? 

5. What does this symbolize ? 
What without God ? 

Do not physical results follow given causes ? * 
May not the vilest of men succeed in gather- 
ing the products of the earth ?* 

Do such, usually, know how to spend them ? * 

6. How does man become educated ? 
What remark is made ? 

7. What if we fail to have God our teacher ? 
What note is taken ? 



OUR DAILY BREAD. 467 

What, if he continues ? 

8. What is said of him religiously ? 
What has sin done ? 

9. What lays behind the unrepentant ? 
What before him ? 

Of what is he reminded ? 

Read the account, giving rise to this figure. 
Gen. 3: 23, 24. 

10. To what does sin tend ? 
What does it create ? 

11 . How is he dependent ? 

How shall he awake from indifference ? 

How shall he hope ? 

Is not an effort to help others, among the first 
duties of Christianity ?* 
ML What has God done ? 

What illustration? 

What condition is expressed ? 

13. What is said of most wants ? 
What do we see in this fact ? 

14. What is farther said of wants ? 
On what must we depend ? 

How does our Saviour allude to this ?* Matt. 
6: 33, 34. 



LAW OF FORGIVENESS. 



LESSON LXXXVIII. 



"But it ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will 
your Father forgive your trespasses.'" Matt. 6: 15, 



1. Moral obligation is co-equal with the knowl- 
edge of moral law. To some extent, this knowl- 
edge is inherent in man. Hence, a sense of 
moral obligation is universal. 

2. The object of God in giving his revealed law, 
was not only to bring forth a statute, which 
would serve as a counterpart of nature; but to 
more minutely instruct the soul in the knowledge 
of duty. 

3. The grand object of the Christian religion is 
to incite such states of mind, ■ feelings and prin- 
ciples, in the transgressor, as to enable him to 
lay hold of the hope set before him in the gospel. 

4. The law of God for the true ideal life, is 



LAW OF FORGIVENESS. 469 

held before him in the life of Christ. Christ's 
life is man's authentic example. Since this life 
has passed under the seal, henceforth, blood 
becomes its emblem. 

5. It has never been auy part of the gospel to 
soften the nature of sin. Peter, while leading 
thousands to the altar of prayer, on the day of 
Pentecost, failed not to set before them how they 
had wickedly crucified Jesus, and how God was 
now calling them to repentance. 

6. There can be no release of obligation. There 
may be pardon for non-fulfillment, but no low- 
ering of moral standards. Duty is not arbitrary; 
so, release from moral obligation is not optional. 
Christ declared that he " came, not to destroy 
the law, but that it might be fulfilled." He 
announced that "not a jot of the law should fail 
until all was fulfilled." 

7. The gospel knows no revocation of penalty 
until the exercise of proper repentance. " If ye 
were blind, ye should have no sin; but now ye 
say, 'We see;' therefore your sin remaineth." 

8. The final conditions of pardon are subjective. 
They look directly to the motives of the heart. 
The objective teachings of the gospel are quite 
necessary as a foundation upon which to build; 
but where passion is unrestrained and the inten- 
tions selfishly wrong, pardon cannot be granted. 
Hence, the requisition, " forgive, if ye would be 
forgiven." 



470 LAW OF FORGIVENESS. 

9. Pardon can never precede the offence. " If 
we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will 
not hear us when we pray." 

10. Under the law of love in the gospel, God 
restores the pardoned to confidence and trust. 
He does it with the most delicate feeling towards 
the sinner. "All his transgressions that he hath 
committed shall not be mentioned unto him." 

11. There is no favoritism in the gospel. Its 
object is to elevate. It bestows special bless- 
ings for real worth. The requisition, that, to be 
forgiven, we must exercise similar . feelings 
toward others, that we recognize in God, and 
from which we implore relief, is in keeping with 
this plan to elevate the receiver. 

12. Every man carries to the throne of grace, 
within his own heart, the conditions of his own 
pardon. The law is wisely placed within his 
own hands. He may find acceptance or rejec- 
tion, according to the tenor of his own heart. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is said of moral obligation ? 
What of this knowledge ? 

What is the result ? 

2. What was God's object, .in giving the law to 
Moses ? 

Do not all men acknowledge the divine require- 
ments, as a whole, to be self-evidently just ?* 



LAW OF FORGIVENESS. 471 

8. What is the object of the Christian religion ? 

Does God withhold, from the soul, any proper 
enjoyment ? * 

Are not all its requirements made in the inter- 
est of man's soul ? * 

4. For what is the law of God held before him? 
Is it given as a source of hope ? * Gal. 2 : 16. 
For what does Christ hold up his life ? 
What is its emblem ? 

5. What has the gospel never done ? 
What did Peter do ? 

Will man be likely to repent, while he sees in 
himself but little to repent of ? * 

6. From what cannot man be released ? 
What may he have ? 

What can never be lowered ? 
What is said of duty ? 
What of release ? 
What announcement ? 

7. When will the penalty of sin be revoked ? 
What quotation is made? 

8. What are the final conditions of pardon ? 
To what do they look ? 

For what do we need the objective teachings 
of the gospel? 

What remark is made ? 

9. What of pardon ? 
What quotation ? 

10. What is said of love ? 
How does God restore ? 



472 LAW OF FORGIVENESS. 

What quotation ? Ezek. 19: 22. 

11. What is said of the gospel ? 
What its object? 

On whom does it bestow special blessings ? 
What remark is made ? 

12. What is said of those who praj ? . 
Where is the law of pardon? 

How may he find acceptance ? 
Read James, 4 : 3. 



-%S£ffi*~ 



SUBMISSION TO GOD. 



LESSON LXXXIX. 



" Lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 
■Matt. 6: 13. 



1. The task of persuading men, cordially, to 
accept a special revelation from God, is not an 
easy one. Not that there is any unreasonable- 
ness in the' idea of a special revelation, when all 
our necessities and relations are considered. 

2. The natural heart dislikes the task, requisite 
to a proper investigation of the subject. The 
philosophy of the Christian religion will not be 
likely to be understood by the masses, until 
there is a deeper personal interest in Christ. 

3. The hardest point to be gained in the human 
heart, is to persuade man to yield himself, child- 
like, to God, to be led, influenced, and hence- 
forth controlled by Him. 



474 SUBMISSION TO GOD. 

4. Christianity implies this submission, and 
without it, there is no perfected Christian char- 
acter. God asks man to place his hand within 
His, and trust him as a Father. 

5. This implies a perfect trust in what is morally 
right. God's law is a perfect rule of action. 
This law is under his shaping providence. The 
results must be good. 

6. It also implies an unqualified acceptance of 
God's means of salvation. The great struggle 
of this life, is to bring the soul to this trust. 

7. In this sense, the sentences of this model 
prayer, stand to us in a climacteric order. The 
acknowledgment of God as our Father, is not 
unpleasant to any. It involves no sterling prin- 
ciple to claim it, although incapable of under- 
standing^ uttering it. 

8. The reverence due his name involves a few 
negative virtues, with a sense of appreciation of 
worth and sacredness. 

9. The allusion to the kingdom, is an expressed 
desire for the grand influences, restraints, and 
accomplishments of the good time coming. 

10. "Thy will be done" casts the suffrages of 
the soul in favor of God. "Our daily bread," 
places the soul's dependence on God, with faith 
in his supply. 

11. The law of forgiveness, is disciplinary, and 
highly subjective in its effects upon the soul; 
but, in this law of submission, there is no reserve. 



SUBMISSION TO GOD. 475 

It is a full surrender of body, soul, and mind, 
to God. This is the climax of Christian faith. 

12. The remainder of the sentence, after " Lead 
us," should be regarded parenthetically. First, 
it is a self- reminder of the natural tendency of 
our desires ; to suppress which, we now ask 
strength: "Not into temptation." Secondly, a 
recognition of the need of God's sovereign grace 
in meeting the common evils of life: " Deliver 
us from evil." 

13. This part of the prayer is marked by a com- 
plete self-abandon. The self-confident man is 
lost in humility and faith. "Thy rod and thy 
staff, they comfort me." 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is said of persuading men to receive 
revelation's light ? 

What is not the reason ? 

2. What do men dislike ? 
What remark is made ? 

3. What is the great point to be gained ? 

4. What is said of Christianity ? 
What does God ask ? 

5. What does this imply ? 
What of God's law ? 
What is it under ? 

For what results can we hope ? 

6. What more does it imply ? 



476 SUBMISSION TO GOD. 

What is the struggle of life ? 
What does God say by the prophet.?* Mic. 
6: 8. 

7. How do these sentences stand ? 
What of the term " Our Father ? " 
What farther remark ? 

8. What of " Hallowed be thy name?" 

9. What is the allusion to the kingdom ? 

10. What of " Thy will be done ? " 
What of " Our daily bread ? " 

11. What of " Forgive us our debts? " 
What of this law of submission ? 
What is it ? 

What relation in faith ? 

12. After " Lead us," how regard the sentence ? 
What the first part ? 

What the second ? 

13. By what marked ? 

What of the self-confident man ? 
What quotation is made ?* Ps. 23 : 4. 



'(5)^f?Xe) 



THE DOXOLOGICAL KEMINDEE. 



LESSON XC. 



"For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, 
forever. Amen.'* Matt. 6: 13. 



1. True oratory consists of such an arrange- 
ment, and setting forth of important truths, as 
to enlist personal interest therein. Prayer is a 
kind of celestial oratory, in its happiest sense. 
It consists of soul-desireS; so addressed to Deity, 
as to move the human heart to its uttermost 
capacity. 

2. Its grand and ultimate object is, to exalt human 
souls by that which cometh directly from God. 
It does this by an inverse process. "He that 
humbleth himself shall be exalted." 

3. This is not the object most apparent to the 
casual observer. All the preliminary stages of 



478 THE DOXOLOGICAL KEMINDER. 

prayer go to show, that God would humble man 
as in the dust before him. 

4. The soul has closed its petition, with a 
direct effort to acknowledge, in some fitting 
language, the inherent exaltation of God. Expan- 
sion of thought, and enlargement of soul, are 
gained in tracing the excellencies of Infinity. 

5. This was necessary to prepare the mind for 
the subjective influences, that God would pro- 
duce in the human soul. The Deity we worship 
becomes enstamped upon the soul worshiping. 

6. Separate from the true God, man cannot be 
exalted. Hence, the ladder of thought, and 
wing of feeling, that prayer lets down from God 
to the human soul. 

7. All that precedes this closing sentence, seem 
preparatory for this exalted strain of praise to 
God, upon which, in the attempt to give God his 
due, the soul mounts up as ' upon wings as 
eagles." 

8. The cause is God's. The right to rule is 
his. A right which he has in ability, inherent 
fitness, and the elective franchise of the soul's 
highest personality. 

9. " Thine is the power." God as revealed in 
Christ, is a life giving power. Like that of the 
sun, it is freely given for all men. Men may 
use it, or abuse and neglect it. Still to those 
who accept, there is power to heal, power to 
save. 



THE DOXOLOGICAL REMINDER. 479 

10. God alone has power to make our own 
feeble, but well meant labors effective. If God 
be not with us, we labor in vain to build. 

11. The glory of the whole scheme of salvation 
is God's. He was its origiuator. He became 
our Saviour, Teacher, Friend. He prepared a 
being who was willing to have his body pass 
into death, that God might bacome man's Script- 
ural expounder, and High Priest of oar profess- 
ion, giving all the moans necessary for the recon" 
ciliation of the sinful heart to God. 

12. It is fitting for the soul to join in this dox- 
ological reminder of its obligations to God, 
while it is Godlike, in turn, to exalt the soul to 
"heavenly places in Christ Jesus." 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is said of true oratory ? 
What of prayer? 

In what does it consist ? 

2. What its object ? 
How does»it do this ? 
What quotation is made ? 

3. Is this the object most apparent? 
What do the first stages of prayer show ? 

4. How has the soul closed its petition ? 
What are gained by tracing Infinity? 

5. Why was this necessary? 



480 THE DOXOLOGICAL REMINDER. 

Is not the gain of noble principles in the heart, 
the point where prayer is heard ? * 
What remark is made ? 

6. What of man when separate from the true 
God? 

What remark is made ? 

7. What of all that precedes this closing sen- 
tence ? 

What results to the soul ? 

8. What is said of the cause ? 
Of the right to rule ? 
What is said of it ? 

9. What is said of the clause, "Thine is the 
power?" 

To what compared ? 

How may men use it ? 

What is it to those accepting ? 

10. What is farther said ? 
What remark ? 

11. What of the glory of redemption? 
With whom did it originate ? 

What did God become ? 2 Sam., 22: 3. Isa., 
43:3. Lu., 1:47. 1 Tim., 4:10. 
What did he do ? 

For what purpose ? ' " 

Bead 2 Tim., 1: 10. 

12. What is reasonable for the soul ? 
What is like God? . 

What does Jesus say ?* Lu. 14: 11. 



SATAN AS A DISTINCT BEING. 



LESSON XCI 



" Your adversary the devil, a& a roaring lion, walketh about, 
seeking whom he may devour." — 1 Peter, 5: 8. 



1. Most ancient words were variously used; 
still, verities were not the less real. By a figure 
of speech many things were called Satan, or 
devil. Men in their evil passions ; kings and 
kingdoms, in their tyrannies ; false religions 
through idol worship — were all called Satan. 

2. Figures suggest realities. But for these 
there would be nothing from which to make 
types. Figurative and poetic uses of words are 
not good definitions. 

3. For a few years, a belief seems to have been 
gaining, that there is no devil, except in man's 
wicked passions. This view is inconsistent with 
the temptation of the first, or the second Adam. 

31 



482 SATAN AS A DISTINCT BEING. 

4. Adam would be found less than upright, 
and Christ less than a Saviour. No authentic 
example could be derived from one whose pas- 
sions led him into the wilderness, to clamor for 
wickedness, for forty days in succession. 

5. The temptation of our first parents was evi- 
dently from without. Had it been possible to 
come from within, Adam could not have been 
pronounced upright. » 

6. A purely upright being must have pure 
intuitions. In the absence of a third party to 
tempt him, these intuitions would lead to uni- 
form habits of negative goodness. Inasmuch as 
he was without trial, he would be without moral 
character. 

7. Acquired character pre-supposes temptation 
This proves a tempter. The purely upright can- 
not tempt themselves. Hence, acquired character 
pre-supposes a devil. 

8. Should the Scriptures affirm, which they do 
not, that Satan fell from angelic purity, they 
should explain who tempted him. This would 
pre-suppose a previous devil . 

9. There is but one proper solution to this ques- 
tion. Satan is a spirit without form. His attri- 
butes are spirituality without loveliness; eternity 
without majesty. He has a nature that might be 
omnipresent, if he had omnipotence to enforce it. 
Morally, he is the opposite of God. 

10. God in his power has excluded Satan from 



SATAN AS A DISTINCT BEING. 483 

all conditions of beinsj, where the trial of life has 
endedin final righteousness. He is notprevented 
from being everywhere present with probationers. 

11. We should not regard our temptations as 
necessarily damagingto the soul. We are never 
the same when emerging from trial as when enter- 
ing it. Progress in the right, results from suc- 
cessful resistance. Christ ever emerged from 
temptation, greatly strengthened for his mission. 

12. With the greatest subtleness in malignance, 
Satan is held in check, allowed to tempt none 
at first, beyond what is necessary to develope 
them and their relations to the world. 

13. Always ready to succor, God watches the 
tempted with more than a mother's interest for 
her child. As soon as tried and proved true, he 
rewards with his presence and approbation. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. Wliat is said of most ancient words ? 
Would various uses of the same word necessa- 
rily render its meaning obscure ? * 

For what has the word Satan been used ? 
How must the word when thus applied, be 
rendered ? * 

2. What do figures suggest ? 

What cannot be derived from the figurative 
and poetical uses of words ? 



484 SATAN AS A DISTINCT BEING. 

How did our Lord use the term ? Lu. 10: 18. 
Is the meaning here the same as in Matt. 16 :23 ? 

3. What is getting to be a popular outside 
belief concerning the Devil ? 

Having denied the existence of Satan, is not 
the step an easy one to deny God's existence?* 

Do not the same class of minds do both ? * 

Are the evidences of Satan's existence, of the 
same class, and as numerous, as those of God's 
existence ? * 

With what is this view inconsistent ? 

4. What would it prove Adam to have been ? 
What would Christ be ? 

What becomes of the example of one. whose 
wicked passions would clamor for forty days 
together, for Satanic influence ? ■ 

Was not this the period of Christ's temptation 
after baptism? * 

Can we conceive of a person, of such fine feel- 
ings and generous impulses, being thus exercised 
in the absence of any other party ? * 

5. From whence came the temptation of our 
first parents ? 

Could their organic natures be pronounced 
upright, while acting the part of a tempting devil? 

6. What must an upright, being have ? 
Without trial, to what would these intuitions 

lead? 

Could positive character result ? * 
What might be said of him ? 



SATAN AS A DISTINCT BEING. 485 

7. What does acquired character pre-suppose? 
What does this prove ? 

What is said of the purely upright ? - 
What is the conclusion ? 

8. If Satan is a fallen angel, what ought to be 
explained ? 

Would not the same arguments apply still 
more to a pure being in heaven ? * 

If Satan's temptation in heaven can be estab- 
lished, who was his tempter ? 

9. How may the subject be solved ? 
What are some of his attributes ? 
What is said of him morally ? 

10. From what is he excluded ? 
From what not excluded ? 

11. -How should -we regard our temptations? 
What always results ? 

What marked results in Christ ? 

12. How far does God act in temptation ? 

13. With what feelings does God watch the 
tempted ? 

What results to the faithful? 



*smj^&>y 



MAN'S DEPENDENCE UPON THE HOLY 
GHOST. 



LESSON xcii: 



" Likewise also the Spirit helpeth our infirmities.". ..Rom. 
8: 26. 



1. Sin has thrown man into relations, from 
which appeals to his reason will not save him . 
True, he will never be led to act well a religious 
part, until his reason is convinced ; but unassisted 
reason is too feeble to grapple with the alienation 
of the heart. 

2. The rousing of the strongest passions of the 
mind have proved equally unsuccessful. These 
have often been used as arresting officers, to 
bring the reckless and giddy to the judgment 
hall of reflection ; but, when followed by nothing 
more worthy of homage, they have signally 
failed to secure a permanent religious reform. 



DEPENDENCE UPON THE HOLY GHOST. 487 

3. Man is endowed with a religious nature, 
that scorns the restraints of all except its chosen 
Deity. Subjectively, God is what the mind con- 
ceives him to be. "As a man thinketh so is he. " 

4. It follows that the character of the worshipers 
of any religion will partake of the conceived idea 
of the attributes of their gods. If the principles 
of false gods were attributed to the true God, 
the subjective results to the soul would be those 
of the heathen. 

5. The effect upon the worshiper, at the Chris- 
tian shrine, will partake of the nature of those 
attributes of God, that most impress him. 
These effects will be clear and decided in accord- 
ance with the correctness, or perverted, in pro- 
portion to the incorrectness of his conceptions. 
Hence the importance of the doctrines of the 
gospel, as a foundation to Christian character. 

6. For the first twenty -five hundred years of 
man's history, the revelation was designed to 
establish the worship of the true God, as opposed 
to the false. Power mainly entered into the 
names of God, while awe with dread, filled the 
heart of the worshiper. 

7. In Christ we have love and vicarious sympa- 
thy with all classes of sinners. While he was 
personally with his disciples, they had no need 
of a third revelation of God. His personal 
preaching had the effect to beget earnestness, 
confidence, love and humility. The condition of 



488 DEPENDENCE UPON THE HOLY GHOST. 

the worshiper then, was like to a school-child, 
learning, but restricted, until a more perfect 
period should arrive. 

8. That period was reserved for the age of the 
Holy Spirit. God, by means of this manifesta- 
tion, is present in every attribute and feeling, 
that has been revealed concerning him. Here 
is the vigor, dignity and justice, of the God of 
Abraham. Here also is the all-helpful love of 
God, as revealed in the Kedeemer. 

9. The combination of these principles, under 
the personality of Holy Spirit, becomes man's 
guardian-angel, to guide from error to truth, 
from darkness to light, from total alienation of 
heart, to faith and trust in God ; and from a set- 
tled hatred, or at least a stoical indifference, to 
consecrated love, all-controlling in its influence. 

10. The realization of the presence of God as 
previouslyrevealed, assures the soul, and amounts 
to a plea in its behalf. The known tendencies to 
despair, when about passing from a state of 
impenitence, heightens this plea to an agony of' 
spirit, expressed by Paul, as a "Groaning that 
cannot be uttered." 

11. To the properly instructed, the Spirit acts 
as a Eeprover, Quickener and Comforter. 
Here is the source of all man's power for good 
to himself or others. Christ's promise is, " Lo 
I am with you," with the caution to all, "With- 
out me ye can do nothing." 



DEPENDENCE UPON THE HOLY GHOST. 489 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What has sin done for man ? 

What is essential, previous to the full exercise 
of man's religious nature ? 

Why cannot enlightened reason lead us to 
God? 

What gives man strength in his religious 
action ? * 

2. What is said of passionate religion ? 
How may the passions be employed ? 

What is the result when we attempt to hold 
the soul by these only ? 

3. Who alone can command the homage of the 
soul ? - 

What results when anything else attempts to 
lead or control it ? 

What is God in a subjective sense ? , 
Do not the opinions of men interpret and con- 
sequently shape the effects of spiritual influences 
over the soul?* 

4. Of what will the character of any worshiper 
partake ? 

What would be the effect of worshiping the 
true God, with the supposed attributes of idols ? 

5. What will be the distinguishing effect upon 
one worshiping God, with an absorbing impres- 
sion of some one attribute ? 



490 DEPENDENCE UPON THE HOLY GHOST. 

In what proportion may we look for clear and 
decided effects ? 
In what perverted ? 
What is shown of great inportance ? 

6. What seems to have been the leading object 
of the early revelations ? 

What was prominently shown in the names of 
Deity ? 

What marked effect on the worshiper ? 

7. What did Christ show ? 

What was the effect of his personal preaching ? 

To what might the worshiper then be com- 
pared ? 

Did Christ allow his disciples to preach to the 
gentile world, prior to the day of Pentecost ? 
Matt. 10:5, 

Can you assign a reason ?* Lu. 24: 49. 

8. What was, better adapted for general teach- 
ing ? 

Under the natural emotions of the soul, where 
do we locate God as Father and Kedeemer ? Isa. 
30:27. Acts 1:9. 

Under the teaching of the Holy Spirit where 
do we? Eom. 10:8. 

How is he present by the Spirit ? 

Have we not here a reason for the third dis- 
tinction of Deity?* 

9. What do these principles through the spirit 
become ? 



DEPENDENCE UPON THE HOLY GHOST. 491 

What is the Spirit's mission ? 

10. What are the effects on the soul ? 
What do these assurances speak ? 

In the soul's effort to return to God, to what is 
it liable? 

How intense becomes this plea in behalf of the 
despairing ? 

What did Paul call it ? 

11. What is the effect of the Spirit upon the 
enlightened ? 

What is the true source of our help ? 
What promise is made ? 
What caution is given ? 



THE CHUECH AT WORK. 



LESSON XCIII. 



11 Upon this rock will I build my Church ; and the gates 
of hell shall not prevail against it." — Matt. 16: 18. 



1. The word church was first applied to a con- 
gregation of worshipers; afterwards to God's 
covenant people, and then the whole family of 
believers. It very early came to be applied to 
that part of a congregation, who are organized 
under Christ's laws. • 

2. The word is now used in four distinct senses, 
viz: for the mass of believers; for a distinct 
denomination; for the organized portion of the 
congregation; and for the house in which they 
meet to worship. 



THE CHURCH AT WORK. 493 

3. There is a call in man's social nature, for 
such an organization. Christ would naturally 
have instituted the Church, if for no other 
reason, than to furnish a home for God's people. 

4. But more especially is it needed, as a great 
utilizer of Christian labor. A three-fold cord is 
not easily broken. In union there is strength. 

5. Here is the power that must evangelize the 
world. Selecting the most gifted of her sons for 
her servants, she has the most important mission 
imparted to her, of covering the earth with the 
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the 
seas. 

6. The great educational interests of this, and 
every other Christian country, have ever de- 
pended on the church. Our colleges are vital- 
ized by her spirit, and endowed by her money. 
Her sons occupy the most responsible positions 
in the great corps of teachers that adorn the 
scientific world. 

7. Nearly every country has been the recipient 
of the gospel through her liberality. In the 
early centuries, Europe, Northern Africa, and 
Western Asia, were redeemed from heathenism, 
and blessed with Christian civilization, by mis- 
sionary labor. 

8. In later years, Eastern Asia, Central Africa, 
and the far-off isles of the sea, have been made 
to hear the glad tidings, and enter upon a course 
of instruction, which must result in the immedi- 



494 THE CHURCH AT WORK. 

ate benefit of three-fourths of earth's inhabitants. 

9. Her task is Herculean, but the spirit and 
resources of Christianity are equal to ihe task. 
No people are so degraded as to escape her 
notice. None so fierce and hostile as to daunt 
her energy. 

10. Cannibals, themselves, become the lovely 
missionaries of the cross. Already the commerce 
of the seas is more than doubled by her labors. 

11. Whole nations stand forth as monuments of 
her redeeming power. Seamen, once the coveted 
prey of the savage islander, are now safe in their 
calling, in nearly every part of the world. 

12. Most of this work is due to organizations, 
prompted by the Christian church. Nor could 
the work now be finished only by the same 
means. What she has begun, she will, under 
Christ, finish, until the earth shall be filled with 
the knowledge of God. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. To what was the word Church at first 
applied ? 

What were the Israelites called? Acts, 7: 38. 

What was the whole body of believers called ? 

What became its more settled meaniDg ? 

Was the organized church included in Christ's 
plan? Matt. 19:17: 



THE CHURCH AT WORK. 495 

2. In how many senses is the word now nsed ? 
What are they ? 

Which seems to be its more proper meaning ?* 

3. What call in man's nature demands organi- 
zation? 

What alone would have been sufficient with 
Christ, to have given us v the church ? 

4. For what is it still more needed ? 

Is not a well conducted church calculated to 
vastly increase the influence of its members ?* 

Upon what is the world dependent for evan- 
gelization? 

To what class of talent has the church a right ? 

What trust is committed ? 

6. What else depends upon it ? 

How came our colleges into existence ? 

How have they been rendered permanent ? 

What may be said of Christian teachers ? 

Is it not true that the stability of every reform 
depends upon the countenance given by the 
church ? * 

7. What may be said of nearly all countries ? 
Where were the fields of her early labors ? 
Was it an easy task to supplant heathenism ? * 

8. What foreign fields have recently engaged 
the attention of the church ? 

What proportion of the human family are yet 
dependent on missionary labors ? 

By what means have nearly all our home 
churches been gathered ?* 



496 THE CHURCH AT WORK. 

9. What may be said of this task? 
What of her spirit and resources ? 

Have any people been overlooked by the 
church ? 

What may be said of her courage ? 

10. What has been the power of the gospel in 
her hands ? 

Under what obligation has she put commerce ? 

11. What trophies does she now present? 
What change has been wrought in the safety 

of seaman ? 

12. To what is this work, in a large measure 
due ? 

Who must finish it ? 

Are the signs of the times favorable for the 
grand accomplishment of this work ? * 



THE CHURCH ASLEEP. 



LESSON XCIV. 



"So, then, because thou art luke-warm, and neither cold 
nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. 

"I counsel thee to buy of me, gold tried in the fire, that 
thou mayest be rich ; and white raiment, that thou mayest 
be clothed; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou 
mayest see."— Rev. 3: 16, 18. 



1. The church, endowed with power, vicariously 
sympathizing with all, and helping such as need 
help is one thing. The church holding that 
power in the pride and worldliness of indiffer- 
ence is quite another. Such is human nature, 
that no sooner is a great power put into the 
hand for doing good, than a portion of that 
power is misdirected to selfish purposes. 

2. Sects seem necessary to meet existing wants, 
but they have their disadvantages. Nothing, 
but the grace of God, will enable any organization 

32 



498 THE CHURCH ASLEEP. 

to hold large moral power without abusing it. 

3. The very essence of Christian faith is such 
as to naturally cause the masses embracing it, to 
feel jealous for its doctrines and practices. 
A kind of holy sanctity surrounds each man's 
belief, that almost forbids the suggestion that 
any part thereof is erroneous. This feeling 
becomes the more intense when it connects with 
it the prestige of denominational belief, with the 
sanctified struggles and sufferings in its behalf. 

4. Hence ignorance is very likely to sit in the 
chair of judgment, and appoint itself guardian of 
the faith. Under these circumstances, but little 
improvement has ever been allowed, without the 
loud cry of innovation and heresy. 

5. No great change in the statement of Chris- 
tian doctrine can be allowed within the bosom of 
a denominational church. All are too apt to 
fancy their own denomination has arrived at the 
acme of truth, and that any departure from them 
is necessarily wrong. 

6. Great love of denomination has made it 
difficult to labor with approbation among a peo- 
ple, whose practices or doctrines you seek to 
reform. With the dependence of most ministers, 
this is calculated to hinder freedom of speech, 
and prevent an untrammeled interpretation of 
the word of God. These are inevitable disad- 
vantages for which, if there are no very great 
advantages in organization, which cannot be had 



THE CHURCH ASLEEP. 499 

elsewhere, it would argue the impracticability of 
all sects. But the advantages are manifold. 
They more than counterbalance. 

7. Many devices have been sought to remedy 
this evil. About so often, a zealous crusade is 
made upon all creeds, as written expressions of 
Christian faith. We are told that the Bible is 
the creed as it stands, without comment. 

8. With the various interpretations given the 
Bible, this position is evasive. It is open to 
many serious objections. The practice, in accord- 
dance with this position, clr iws together a class 
of persons, so unlike in sympathy and thought, 
as to be utterly incapable of harmonizing, except 
on the lowest basis of piety. The harmony of 
the household is defeated from the beginning, 
and permanent reform not gained. 

9. The world have a right to know the inter- 
pretation we place upon the Scriptures. That 
right extends to a written statement. Nor is the 
written any more a creed, than the unwritten 
and oral exposition of the word. A man's creed 
is what he believes. We are commanded to be 
ready to give a reason for the belief we entertain. 

10. The fault is not in the organization of the 
church, with, or without a written statement of 
belief ; but in misguided human nature, with 
which we are all liable to be cumbered. The 
remedy is the law of Christian charity in humil- 
ity, and vicarious love for each other. This love 



500 THE CHURCH ASLEEP. 

admits of the widest catholicity of spirit, with an 
intelligent denominational preference. 
11. With such a spirit we can co-operate with 
all who love God in sincerity ; allowing each all 
needful latitude of thought, while we are none 
the less settled in the great principles that under- 
lie our own faith. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. With what is the church endowed ? 
How should she hold her power ? 
How is it sometimes held ? 

What is said of human nature? 

2. What is said of sects ? 

What seems true of them in fact ? 
What is it that safely guides power in its 
organizations ? 

3. What are the natural tendencies of Christian 
faith? 

What surrounds each man's belief ? 

When is this feeling intensified ? 

Are not these struggles common to all ? * 

4. What often results ? ■ 
What is a consequence ? 

Has hot the cry of heresy been raised against 
every new form of stating Christian doctrine ? 



THE CHURCH ASLEEP. 501 

Is it strange that denominations are zealous of 
attempts to show that thej are in error ? * 

Do these disadvantages more than counterbal- 
ance the good of denominational organizations ? * 

5. What naturally follows ? 

What seems to be the fancy of the masses? 

6. What does this love of denomination lead 
to ? 

Under these circumstances, has not Christ, 
with the true gospel, been often scorned from its 
bosom ?* 

What is the natural effect upon a dependent 
class of Christian teachers ? 

Can we not see these results without imputing 
the most sordid motives to these men ? 

Is it an easy thing to get errors erased from 
an ancient creed ? 

If this were all that could be said of church 
organization, what would result ? 

What may be said as an offset? 

7. How have many sought to remedy the evil? 
What are we told ? 

8. What may be said of this position? 
What chance for evasion does it afford ? * 
Would not the position be admirable, when 

taking the Bible as the standard by which we try 
our own statements ?* 

As generally stated, what may be said of the 
position? 



502 THE CHURCH ASLEEP. 

What is this position reduced to practice ? 

9. What right has the world? 
How far does it extend ? 
What is a man's creed ? 

What are we commanded to be ready for ? 

10. Where is the fault then ? 
What is the remedy ? 

Of what does this love admit? 

11. Under its guidance, what may we do ? 
What should we allow to all ? 

In what may we yet be confident ? 

Have we not reason to be cautious, least our 
zeal should be more for denomination than for 
Christ ? * 



THE DISCIPLINE OF THE CHURCH. 



LESSON XCV. 



" And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the 
church."— Matt. 18:17. 



1. We use the word church here as an organiza- 
tion of believers, having rights as a body, not 
inconsistent with the religious freedom of each 
of its members. It is expected that each indi- 
vidual, prior to his request for membership, will 
have experienced regeneration of soul, and set- 
tled his intentions for a Christian life. 

2. Christ's church is the last place for the tol- 
eration of caste. "All ye are brethren." Here 
above all other places on earth should men be 
made to feel at home. Christ has no royal seat 
for wealth or worldly position. If anywhere a 
purely democratic form of government can be 
inaugurated, it is in the local church. 



504 DISCIPLINE OF THE CHUBCH. 

3. A certain amount of discipline seems 
devolving on this body. In using it, the grand 
object of the church must not be lost sight of. 
Not to lord it over men's consciences, nor to 
punish men for their shortcomings, was it given, 
but for vicarious sympathy and Christian help to 
all classes. 

4. "It is impossible but that offences will 
come." The tone of piety with all is too low. 
In most persons it is noticeably such. From 
such a level of Christian life, irregular and 
imperfect fruit will follow. 

5. The ideal standard of a Christian life is 
perfection. The standard of real attainments is 
only relative. The former must never be low- 
ered, the latter must be determined by circum- 
stances. 

6. The church is Christ's school for the per- 
fection of human character and influence. Her 
work is one of patience, endurance, and labor in 
Christian love. 

7. Her chief co-operative influence, in support, 
is the Bible. She must open the way for the 
fullest and most untrammeled interpretation of 
the word of God. Her members must be 
encouraged to know God for themselves, to make 
His character their study. 

8. No member should feel that the heart of 
censure, much less unfriendly discipline, awaits 
the honest research after truth. So long as the 



DISCIPLINE OF THE CHURCH. 505 

unfriendly frown awaits the statement of Chris- 
tian truth, supposed to differ from the forms 
usually received, so long that body fails to meet 
the purposes of Christ's church . 

9. The zeal and ardor of devotion will not 
always be alike. Changes in health, seasons, 
circumstances and places, all tend to make the 
life of man uneven. These are the times which 
call for the strong support and Christian sympa- 
thy of our fellow associates. This sympathy is 
calculated to discipline the members up toward 
a higher life. 

10. Our worldly occupations are widely differ- 
ing. Our views, our tastes and feelings in these 
things must be widely apart ; but all these have 
ample scope for employment and happy co-opera- 
tion in labor within the bosom of the church. 

11. The field of usefulness is equally diversified 
with men's tastes. The church can hardly spare 
the services and personal efforts of one of its 
members. Hence her social meetings should 
tend to beget confidence in devotion in all her 
members. 

12. The voice of Christians should often com- 
mingle in prayer and praise, while the personal 
efforts of all should aim at the establishment of 
Christ's Kingdom among men, and the specific 
good of all persons, coming within their respec- 
tive influence. These ate modes of discipline, 
arising from faithful labor and judicious watch- 
care over each other. 



506 DISCIPLINE OF THE CHURCH. 

13. That church succeeds best who persuades 
each and all its members to act as a standing 
committee for general Christian labor, for 
reproof, for exhortation, for an example of well- 
doing. In view of the coldness prevailing 
among the masses, the church has been obliged 
to supply this want by those who have been 
specially appointed. 

14. Any departure from moral uprightness, or 
a gross departure from the accepted doctrines of 
the church, are worthy of the kind solicitations 
of its members. 

15. When these things are carried to the extent 
of damaging the cause by gross injustice, either 
to the accredited standard of morals or the 
the accepted views of the church, the church 
have a reason to know why; and where the spirit 
and letter of Christ's rule of discipline fails, she 
is compelled to disown the offender. 

16. Church discipline is not designed to visit 
chastisement upon the offender, nor to abridge 
any one's liberty in worshiping God according to 
his own understanding. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. In what sense do we use the word church 
here ? 

What is said of rights ? 

What is expected of each candidate for mem- 
bership ? 



DISCIPLINE OF THEf CHURCH. 507 

What would be the consequences of allowing 
all persons, who conform to certain exterior 
rules, to become members ?* 

What would result from universal infant mem- 
bership ?* 

2. What is said of caste ? 
What does Christ say ? 

How should we try to make all feel ? 
Does Christ recognize wealth, or worldly 
position in its members ? 

What is said of church government? 
What is a democratic form of government ? * 

3. What devolves upon the church ? 
What must be held in right ? 

For what was it not given ? 

For what was it ? 

What is vicarious sympathy?* 

4. What does Christ say ? 

What may be said of the general tone of piety ? 
What must follow? 

Have we evidence that any organization has 
reached the perfection of the ideal church ?* 

5. What is the ideal standard of individual 
piety? 

What of real attainments ? 
What is said of the former ? 
What of the latter ? 

Are not great allowances to be made for cir- 
cumstances, customs and former education?* 

6. What may be said of the church ? 



508 DISCIPLINE OF THE CHURCH. 

What of her work ? 

7. What is her chief co-operative support? 
What devolves upon the church? 

To what should she invite her members ? 

Has she not reason to apprehend quite a 
variety of interpretations from so many inde- 
pendent researches ?* 

Which would be bast, variety in intelligence, 
or uniformity in ignorance ?* 

8. Of what should each member be assured ? 
When does the organization fail to meet the 

purpose of a church ? 

9. What may be said of individual zeal and 
devotion ? 

What serves to produce great changes ? 

What does a low state of Christian piety 
call for? 

What is this support calculated to do ? 

Do not feeble members require our sympa- 
thies much more than the strong ?* 

10. What is said of our worldly occupations ? , 
What variety of effects ? 

Where may all these happily unite ? 

11. What is said of the field of usefulness ? 
What is said of the needs of the church? 
What of her social meetings? 

12. What is said of personal devotion? 
To what should all aim? 

What are these labors called? 



DISCIPLINE OF THE CHURCH. 509 

13. What would come nearer a model church? 
With what must the church contend? 

How has she sometimes tried to supply the 
want? 

Should we not be willing, in church relations, 
to bear much imperfection?* 

14. What may be said of gross departures ? 
When have they reason to call members to a 

public account ? 

15. When may they exclude? 

Should an honest difference of opinion subject 
to exclusion?* 

16. What should ever be avoided ? 

What rule should pre-eminently control us in 
these labors?* Matt. 7:12. 

Are not the individual views, concerning God 
and His word, as sacred as those of the organ- 
ized bodv ?* 



^QA3^ 



RELIGIOUS ORDINANCES. 



LESSON XCVI 



"Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away 
from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return 
unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts." 
—Mai. 3: 7. 



1. Religious ordinances are designed for illus- 
trative sermons. The calls for them are various. 
Some have their origin in the wants of man's 
physical nature. Such wants, being universal, 
and the least likely to change, call for ordinances 
adapted to, and obligatory upon all. Such ordi- 
nances, in substance, survive the changes of all 
dispensations. 

2. The weekly sabbath is a good illustration of 
those designed to meet man's physical wants. 
No dispensation has essentially changed it. It 
began with man ; it will accompany the race to 
the end of its earthly pilgrimage. 



RELIGIOUS ORDINANCES. 511 

3. Ordinances have been mercifully given to 
man for his advancement in the knowledge of 
God. Their primary utility cannot be retained 
to those who have lost sight of the design. This 
would be the more manifest, in those which per- 
tain more especially to the intellect and con- 
science. 

4. Even those given to meet man's physical 
wants, are not devoid of high moral and intellect- 
ual considerations. Losing sight of these, the 
Pharisees perverted the Sabbath, and mocked 
and "robbed God in tithes and offerings." 

5. While God was displeased with a sacrifice 
which cost nothing, he rejected all such as con- 
tained only the idea of value. Subjective prin- 
ciples, and not sacrifice, were the ultimate designs 
of worship. 

6. Some dispensations required more illustra- 
tions than others. The national religion of the 
Jews, including the covenant of pedigree, was 
committed to angels, and required many ordi- 
nances as vehicles of communication to the Jews. 

7. Their times present us with a condition of the 
world, wherein man was dependent upon ordi- 
nances for his teaching, and these were ordained 
in the hands of angels. 

8. In process of years they became perverted, 
as in Ezekiel's time, or neglected, as in Malachi's 
time. God then sent his prophets to reinstate 
them with promise. So far had they become 
perverted in the latter years of their national 



512 RELIGIOUS ORDINANCES. 

gatherings, that Christ was charged with the 
mission of breaking them down, as middle-wall 
partitions between them and other nations. 

9. Bad as were these results, still they were 
better than those which must have followed the 
leaving of Jacob s descendants to follow the false 
religions of the age. 

10. Although a merely illustrated truth must 
ever be inferior to the abstract conceptiou of the 
same, yet such has ever been the mind of man, 
that he must, to some extent, lean upon the illus- 
tration for any just conception of the ideal and 
abstract. 

11. The tendencies of Christ's teaching was not 
only calculated to correct the perversions made, 
but to supplant such rites, as were typical of 
him. The gospel being the antetype of most 
Jewish ordinances, they naturally expired when 
he brought in the New covenant. Hence, the 
apostle argues that he nailed these ordinances 
to the cross. 

12. Christ did not leave the world without ordi- 
nances under the New covenant. Two, viz : 
Marriage and the Sabbath, pertained to wants 
not at all changed by the new order of things. 
T wo more, viz : Baptism and the Lord's Supper, 
were instituted to illustrate the principles of the 
Gospel, and their manner of reception to the 
human heart. 

13. Man should be honored for every effort to 



RELIGIOUS ORDINANCES. 513 

know God, and obey his commandments. He 
should not be content with the opinion of another 
nor calculate that his own opinion has anything 
to do with questions of fact; " to the word and 
to the testimony." 

14. On the other hand, ordinances of any kind 
become loathsome, when, forgetting the design 
of heaven in their institution, man uses them as 
a passport to social, moral, or political position ; 
or looks to them for the inherent good contained 
within themselves. 



QUESTIONS. 

1. For what are religious ordinances designed ? 
What is said of the wants to be met by them ? 
What are some of these wants ? 

What is farther said of them? 
What is said of the ordinances which meet 
these wants ? 

2. Give a sample of a perpetual ordinance ? 
When did the weekly Sabbath begin? 

When will it end ? 

3. To what should we be approaching through 
ordinances ? 

Who will fail to reap their primary benefit ? 
Of which class may this be especially said? 

4. What may be said of the other class ? 
How did the Pharisees lose the benefit of the 

Sabbath? Mark, 22: 24, 27. 
33 



514 RELIGIOUS ORDINANCES. 

How were their tithes and offerings regarded ? 
Matt. 23:23. 

5. How did God regard second-hand offerings ? 
How did he regard the compensation question? 
What was the ultimate of worship? * Ps. 40: 

5—8. 

How is this expressed in Isaiah 58 : 5 — 8. 

6. What is said of some dispensations? 

To whom was the national religion of the Jews 
committed as a dispensation ? 

What covenant did this include ? 

What was the origin of this ?* 

What did this dispensation require ? 

What may be said of their times ? 

Who were the messengers to order the law 
covenant ? * Gal. 3: 19. 

8. How had sacrifices become perverted? Ezek. 
20:'28, 31. 

With what were the Jews charged in Malachi's 
time? Mai. 3:8—10. 

What important mediation did Christ bear 
between the Jews and other nations ? Eph. 2 : 14, 
15. 

9. What may be said of these results ? 

Could the nation of the Jews have been kept 
from the grossest idolatry except through cere- 
monies ?* 

10. Is the illustration of a truth as good as the 
abstract conception ? 

Why not teach by abstract truths alone ? 



RELIGIOUS ORDINANCES. 515 

11. What was the tendency of Christ's teach- 
ing ? 

Of what was the gospel the antetype ? 

What became of them ? 

What does Paul say ?* Col. 2 : 14. 

12. Is the New covenant completely without 
ordinances ? 

What may be said of Marriage and the Sab- 
bath ? 

What of Baptism and the Lord's Supper ? 

13. For what should we honor every one ? 
Will it do to take God's commandments second- 
handed ? 

To what should we always resort V 

14. , When do ordinances become loathsome ? 
What subjective influence should precede 

baptism ? * Acts 8: 36, 37. Acts 10: 47, 48. 

What should precede communion? * 1 Cor. 
11:28. 

What is said of thoughtless or hypocritical 
approaches to the table ?* 1 Cor. 11: 29. 



<l&^s* 



INFANT SALVATION. 



LESSON XCVII. 



Of such is the Kingdom of <iod." Luke 18: 16. 



1. The term infant, in a moral sense, includes 
all people who have not arrived at an age, or 
condition in life, to be morally accountable. It 
would be very difficult to decide for any child, 
when the period of infancy ends, and moral 
accountability begins. It must, in a sense, be 
gradual ; since some questions of duty are seen 
much earlier than others. 

2. The absolute time and degree of accounta- 
bility, must be left with the infinite God, who 
doeth all things well. Our subject treats of that 
class, whom God regards as never having had a 
moral probation. Fortunately the condition of 
our departed infants, hangs in no moral obscur- 
ity. 



INFANT SALVATION. 517 

3. We need not stop to dwell upon the blind- 
ness, that once doubted and despaired of their 
happiness. We may safely affirm that the gen- 
eral belief of Christendom now is, that all who 
die in a state of infancy, are safe from condem- 
nation. 

4. God has given not only the assurance of 
their salvation, but the ground upon which he 
saves them. As soon as a child breathes the 
natural air, he becomes a separate, and distinct 
immortal. It is now in God's image, the image of 
his immortality. It cannot be annihilated. As an 
embryo intelligence, it has a claim upon justice. 
A just God will see that claim maintained. 

5. Since it has done nothing to merit either 
approval or disapproval, it, in right, deserves to 
be treated as an innocent immortality ; for whom 
justice demands the kindest treatment, and for- 
bids the least detraction. 

6. It follows that what is true of one infant, is 
true of all of every nation, color, and condition 
of people. The heathen child has the same 
rights with those of the Christian. It follows 
that no ordinance of man, or effort of parents, 
can make the heaven of their infant sweeter than 
their neighbor's. 

7. We are not taught to hope, on the ground 
that a merciful God has pardoned them from the 
penalties incurred by parents; because they are 
not responsible for their parent's sins. They 
have no moral stain of soul, requiring pardon. 



518 INFANT SALTATION. 

8. They are born into life organically depraved, 
but the provisions for the organic change, at the 
general resurrection for all men, secures this 
change to them. 

9. Fortunately we have revealed to us the 
ground, upon which the smitten parent may 
hope. " And I looked and lo, a Lamb stood on 
the mount Sion, and with him a hundred and 
forty and four thousand having his Father's 
name written in their foreheads." 

10. This, of course, is a figure of speech. The 
number may be a large indefinite one. It was a 
favorite number, in connection with the twelve 
tribes of Israel. Mount Sion was their sacred 
mount. The two, in connection, would indicate 
a large number of Israel, saved by the justice of 
God. 

11. It was among the oriental customs to 
emphasize the largest number, indicated by any 
one letter of their alphabet, by many times 
repeating it, to indicate an indefinite number. 
Hence, the repetition of thousands, in Scripture 
language. 

12. No great vision of the gospel ends with a 
local people. This number is joined by a figure 
of speech, signifying a very great multitude. 
" And I heard a voice from heaven as the voice 
of many waters, and . as the voice of a great 
thunder ; and I heard the voice of harpers harp- 
ing with their harps." Here commingles the 
innocents of all nations. 



INFANT SALVATION. 519 

13. Their songs and their redemption were 
unique. It was a "new song," which adults 
could not learn, sung by those whose redemption 
was only " from earth," or from " among men." 

14. A strong figure of primeval innocence is 
presented. They are the Lord's "virgins." 
Another favorite figure of choice selection is 
used, covering those things which the Jews gave 
to God in their loyalty. They are the "first 
fruits unto God and the Lamb." 

15. "And in their mouth was found no guile; 
for they are without fault before the throne of 
God." The next verse makes it still more evi- 
dent, that this is a true exposition of the first 
four verses. ' ' And I saw another angel fly in 
the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gos- 
pel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, 
and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, 
and people." This verse speaks loudly to par- 
ents who are called to part with their children 
here, and assures them that they too may sing 
another "new song." "Thou art worthy to 
take the book, and to open the seals thereof; for 
thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God 
by thy blood." 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What does the term infant include ? 
What is difficult to us ? 
What is probable ? 



520 INFANT SALVATION. 

2. What must be left with God ? 
Of what does our subject treat ? 
What is fortunate ? 

3. What may we not stop to do ? 
What may be safely affirmed? 

Do not the intuitions oi the mind suggest that 
it would be unjust to attribute moral wrong to 
an infant? 

What did God show his prophets? Ezek. 
18: 2. Jer. 31: 29. 

4. What assurance has God given ? 

When does man become an immortal exist- 
ence ? Gen. 2:7. 

In whose image created ? 

What does it include ? 

Can it be annihilated ? 

Upon what has it a claim ? 

Who will see, its claim mairtained ? 

5. How (joes it deserve to be treated ? 
What does justice demand ? 

6. What follows ? 

What of heathen children ? 
Need we do anything to make this happiness 
complete ? 

Can man's conduct detract from it ?* 

7 . What is not the ground of hope ? 

How do our children morally stand to our 
sins ? 

If- they grow to manhood how may our wrongs 
affect them ?* * 



INFANT SALVATION. 521 

As a matter of fact what does prophecy say of 
parental example ?* Ex. 20: 5. 
Do infants need pardon ? 

8. What is their organic state at birth ? 
What provisions has God made for this ? 

9. Need we still be in doubt, as to the moral 
grounds of infant salvation ? 

Eead the first verse of Eev. 14. 

10. What is this ? 
What of the number ? 

What made a multitude of twelve a favorite 
number with Israel ?* 

What was mount Sion ? 

To what do the two, in prophecy, point ? 

Will it make any difference with the infants, 
that their parents have rejected Christ ?* 

By what are these infants saved ? 

11. What custom had the orientals ? 

Was it always repeated by twelves? Eev. 5: 11. 

12. What cannot be said of any great vision of 
the gospel ? 

By what is this number joined ? 
Who may these be ?* 

13. What was unique with all this class ? 
What of their song ? 

What of their redemption ? 
If you are saved, from what must you be 
redeemed?* Gal. 3. 13. 



522 INFANT SALVATION. 

14. Who are these ? 

What does this figure signify ? 

What is the next figure ? 

With whom was this a sacred figure ? 

How does God show his pleasure with infants ? 

15. What was not found in their mouth ? 
What were they without ? 

What advantage from the next verse ? 

How does it read ? 

To whom does it speak ? 

What does it assure him ? 



EELATION OF PKOBATION TO 
ETEENITY. 



LESSON XCVIII. 



41 Whatsoever thy band findeth to do, do it with thy might; 
for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wis- 
dom in the grave, whither we hasten."— Eccl. 9: 10. 



1. Perhaps there is no one question of theology, 
upon which men are so sensitive, as upon that 
of final rewards and punishments. It may have 
been injudiciously handled, by those presenting 
the same. It doubtless has often been misappre- 
hended, but the error has more frequently been 
committed by presenting it, when the spirit 
possessed too little vicarious sympathy with those 
upon whom the doctrine must bear with unwel- 
come force. 

2. Man needs a Saviour's sympathy in warning 
his fellow men. There is in man a faithful class 
of earnest messengers, which impulsively speak 
according to the prevailing feelings of the soul. 



524 RELATION OF PROBATION TO ETERNITY. 

Those are called intuitions. Unfortunately they 
have been wounded, by some injudicious pre- 
sentation of this subject. 

3. These intuitions are made to take sides 
against a needless, cruel, repulsive, physical 
torture, which exists only in men's fancy. Assum- 
ing that this is the punishment meant by the 
advocates of future retribution, expected by the 
masses, and threatened by the word of God, 
these messengers of the heart gain a marytr's 
strength, in disbelieving them. 

4. But all this strength, like the anger of a 
mistaken man, might as well be saved for an 
indignation worthy of the man. The premises 
are simply false. All these assumptions are 
outside of the Christian covenant. 

5. We are completely dependent upon the 
Scriptures for the full relation of man to both 
covenants. We are especially dependent upon 
them for all our knowledge of the Father of 
mercies, as a sin pardoning God. A cold cre- 
ative sense of Father, is given in nature, but the 
family sense, of compassion and restoration, is 
only revealed in the Bible. 

6. Whatsoever the Scriptures present as man's 
future state, they do so, in connection with the 
revelation of "Our Father, in heaven." Man 
shows his inconsistency in grasping one term, 
because in accordance with his feelings, and 
rejecting another, revealed by its side, because 



RELATION OF PROBATION TO ETERNITY. 525 

his feelings are against it. Bevelation cannot 
destroy itself. No more can man take the term 
"Heavenly Father," and disapprove of the dura- 
tion of the penalty for sin. He should either 
deny that God is " Our Father," or accept what 
he has said concerning sin. 

7. Men object to God's punishments in kind. 
They read the physical consequences, prophet- 
ically given of Adam's sin ; and the same of Cain's 
fratricide ; and susposing they have the penalty 
of sin, they imagine that it is optional with God, 
when the penalty may stop. Here they are mis- 
taken. The penalty and the consequences are 
distinct.. The latter are circumstantial, the for- 
mer follows due course of law. 

8. Laying aside all figures of speech, by which 
this terrible result is intensified to the mind of 
the careless and unconcerned, the simple penalty 
of sin is God's disapprobation for the wrong 
done. God's disapprobation is not the result of 
an impulsive feeling that spends itself in indig- 
nation to-day, to be forgotten to-morrow ; but 
he acts from principles, that are co-eternal with 
his own being. 

9. He could not be "Our Father," without 
condemning the wrong; and condemnation with 
him, grows not old. He is the same to-day, 
yesterday, and forever. 

10. Objection is made that the few years of our 
probation are not enough for action, that must 



526 RELATION OF PROBATION TO ETERNITY. 

carry with it perpetuity of results. We should 
remember that man's original probation has been 
greatly shortened, in consequence of sin ; and, 
that God " cut it short in righteousness." 

11. God's plan was to give him in righteous- 
ness a thousand years. But man's proclivities 
to sin are so great, he degenerates so low, that 
the thousand years would ripen him so far in 
sin, and give him such power to do evil, that no 
flesh could then be saved. . Hence God has seen 
fit to give man only the former youth of his pro- 
bation. 

12. But is it true, that man's probation is too 
short, in which to establish a moral character ? 
How long would it take the minister of the gos- 
pel to establish in your mind a character for 
wrong ? He may have rendered his youth to 
God, he may have done more to mitigate human 
woe and sorrow, than any forty men of his gen- 
eration ; but in one act, known to be very wrong, 
he blasts the good of his life. Are you unjust 
to condemn him in the act? And is God less 
just than yourself ? If our sense of justice com- 
pels us to pass sentence on single acts, may not 
God judge the aggregate of life? " Judgment 
and justice must be the habitation of his throne 
forever." 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What is stated ? 



RELATION OF PROBATION TO ETERNITY. 527 

What ma j have been one cause ? 
Do men stop to see the force of figures that 
illustrate moral truth ? 

What mistake is made in presenting the subject? 

2. What does man need in warning men ? 
What do we find in man ? 

How do they speak ? 
What are they called ? 
What is said of these ? 

3. What are they made to do? 
What do men assume ? 
What is the result ? 

4. What is said of this strength ? 
What of the premises ? 

From whence these assumptions ? 

Has not the Christian religion often suffered 
from the mistakes of its friends, as well as the 
perversions of its enemies ?* 

5. Where do we get man's relations to the cov- 
enants ? 

What especially is found there ? 

What sense of Father is given in nature ? 

What sense of Father is revealed in the Bible ? 

6. What statement is made ? 

How does man show his inconsistency ? 
Of what may we be assured ? 
What cannot be done ? 
What should he do ? 

7. To what do men object ? 
What do they read ? 



528 RELATION OF PROBATION TO ETERNITY. 

What do they imagine ? 
What is said of it ? 

8. What do we pass over in this statement ? 
What is the penalty of sin ? 

What is said of God's disapprobation ? 
From what does God act ? 

9. What necessity about it ? 
What is said of his condemnation ? 
What is he? 

10. What objection is made ? 
W T hat should we remember ? 

Under what principle did God cut probation 
short ? 

11. What was God's plan ? 

When God's plans are conditional, may they 
not be changed ?* 

What made a change necessary here ? 
What has he seen fit to do ? 

12. What question is asked ? 
What instance is referred to ? 
Under what circumstances ? 
What yet does a very sinful act do ? 

What principle prompts to condemn a wrong? 
What question concerning God ? 
What question concerning judgment of God ? 
With what is the throne of God surrounded ? 
What then seems to be our duty ?* Eccl. 
12: 13, 14. 



RELATION OF PROBATIONJTO 
ETERNITY. 



LESSON XCIX. 



"Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not 
quenched.— Mark, 9: 44. 



1. From nature's teachings, whose voice is that 
of the Old covenant, the laws of cause and effect, 
in connection with immortality, affirm, that not 
only the aggregate of a man's life, but each indi- 
vidual moral act, carries with it perpetuity of 
consequence. The philosophy of nature leaves 
no hope to the transgressor. 

2. The very suggestion, of the final approval 
by a holy God, came from revelation". The terms 
of that approval must therefore be learned from 
the gospel. Our own likes, or dislikes, beliefs, 
or disbeliefs, have but little to do with it. 

34 



530 ^RELATION OF PROBATION TO ETERNITY. 



3. It will not do to attempt to grasp some grand 
result revealed, while we reject the revealed con- 
dition of the result, and attempt to substitute 
our own crude desires. The absurdity of such a 
course will be better seen, when we understand 
how little we know of the philosophy of our own 
intuitions. 

4. A mother very confidenly affirms that every 
feeling of her moral nature is shocked, at the 
thought of the perpetuity of moral penalty. 
With a little consideration she will see that every 
virtuous principle of her moral being, under cer- 
tain conditions, demands it. 

5. Let us confine the penalty of sin to the 
Biblical exposition of it, viz : to God's disap- 
proval ; the effect of shame following the cause 
of guilt. 

6. It is claimed that parental affection would 
revoke the penalty altogether. A son commits 
forgery, and sets the town on fire that he may 
destroy the evidence of his guilt, by which a 
score of valuable lives is lost. We will suppose 
the mother invested with the power to say 
whether the effect of shame shall follow .the deed 
or not. How will she decide ? Which would 
pain a virtuous mother most, the fact that her 
son had done the deed,, or having done it, could 
sit down, without shame, and reflect upon it ? 

7. But he has endured, this shame one whole 
year; during which time he has felt no true 



RELATION OF PROBATION TO ETERNITY. 531 

repentance, but has grown worse. The question 
is still left with the mother, shall his guilt end 
with the year, or his shame then be less, when 
he reflects, without penitence, upon his terrible 
deed ? 

8. All must see that time has nothing to do 
with the penalty due to sin ; neither do the 
intuitions, of the kindest mother, dissent from 
just the effect that God says shall follow sin. 
As the mother could not be willing to see her 
son farther degraded, by having the sense of 
shame taken from him, until he repents, so God, 
with his Fatherly care for man, can never allow 
the degredation, of feeling comfortable under 
crime, until suitable repentence is exercised. 

9. Time can have no effect upon such principles. 
They must be as fresh in the mind of God, any 
number of million of years to come, as now. 

10. You say if the boy really repents, then the 
mother would blot out his shame. This is what 
God proposes to do in the gospel. "As far as 
the east is from the west, so far hath he removed 
our transgressions from us." "None of his sins 
that he hath committed, shall be mentioned unto 
him any more," 

11. This is God's offer during probation. 
Ought probation to have its fixed day, or should 
it be eternal ? If probation is eternal, it is con- 
trary to analogy. The figure of rest is even 



532 RELATION OF PROBATION TO ETERNITY. 



applied to God in nature, 
from his work." 



And God rested 



12. The growth of the body has its period of 
probation, and rest from growth. Gestation has 
its period of probation, and rest from bearing. 
Childhood has its probation for sport, and rests. 
The body, with the mind, have their period of 
activity and strength, and they must rest. Shall 
not the soul enjoy a set period of probation, and 
rest from labor ? 

13. Each of these periods has its respective 
duties. Having neglected any duty, or violated 
any law pertaining to any of these periods, man 
has no right to murmur that he cannot right it 
in another. The Chinese mother confines her 
daughter's foot during the first eighteen years of 
her life. These were probationary years for 
growth. She cannot complain that her child's 
growing probation has ended, and no after repen- 
tance can make amends. 

14. Since our moral probation must end some- , 
where, when so appropriate a time as the period 
of death ? Hear the kind voice of the Saviour; 
"I must work the- works of him that sent me, 
while it is day ; the night cometh, when no man 
can work." Hear again the. voice from heaven, 
telling John to " Write, blessed are the dead 
which die in the Lord from henceforth ; Yea said 
the Spirit, that they may rest from labours ; and 
their works do follow them." 



RELATION OF PROBATION TO ETERNITY. 533 
QUESTIONS. 

1. In accordance with which covenant are na- 
ure's teachings? 

What do her laws affirm ? 

To what beings ? 

What may be said of the philosophy of nature ? 

2. • From whence came the suggestion of approval ? 
What else must be found there ? 

What will have but little to do with shaping 
the plan of salvation ? 

Are we not apt to fancy, that what we like 
comes very near the Divine plan ? * 

3. What will not answer ? 

How would the absurdity of the course appear? 

4. What do some affirm ? 
What is still true ? 

5. To what must the penalty of sin be confined ? 
Are not a multitude of consequences brought 

forward by men, as the penalty ? * 

6. What is farther claimed ? 
What is the supposed case ? 
What question is asked ? 
What other ques.ion? 

Are you at a loss to say which?* 

7. How long now since the deed ? 
What attitude has he maintained ? 

8. What must all see ? 

Does the mother now dissent ? 



534 RELATION OF PROBATION TO ETERNITY. 

What could she not be willing to see ? 
What similar feelings must God have ? 
Is it for want of love, that, if the mother can, 
she will not revoke the penalty ?* 
May not as much be said of God ? * 

9. What is said of time ? 

How will all moral principle remain with 
God? 

10. When will the mother say his shame is 
enough? 

Has God met this kindness of the mother's 
heart, with similar provisions in the gospel ? 

What does God by the prophet say ? Ps. 
103:12. 

What does God again say ? Ezek. 33: 16. 

11. What is this ? 
What question is asked ? 
What if it is ? 

To whom is the figure of rest applied ? 

12. What is said of the body ? 
Of gestation ? 

Of childhood ? , 

Of the period of activity ? 

What question is asked ? 

Is it probable that this is an exception?* 

13. What is said of these periods ? 

Of what has man no right to complain? 
What is done by the Chinese mother ? 
What were these years ? 
Of what ought she not to complain ? 



RELATION OF PROBATION TO ETERNITY. 535 

14. What farther question is asked ? 

Is not death the supposed end of probation ? * 

Do any know of one beyond ? * 

What are you exorted to hear ? 

What lastly to hear ? 

Kepeat the verse Rev. 13 : 14. 

ReadEcct. 9:10. 

What was the wise man's conclusion ? Eccl. 
12:13, 14. 



(5X^*5) 



TOTAL ABSTINENCE. 



LESSON C. 



" Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it 
giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. " 

"At last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an 
adder." Pro v. 23: 31, 32. 



1. Man's physical organism is double. He 
possesses nearly all parts of his system in pairs, 
or in distinct halves. As an intellectual being, 
he possesses two distinct personalities. These 
essentially oppose each other. 

2. The tendencies of the one were shown in the 
responses of one half of Israel, as they . stood 
upon mount Gerazim, and repeated the work 
and reward of sin . The tendencies of the other 
personality, were represented by the responses 
to the law of God, by the other half of Israel, 
standing upon mount Ebal, and the proclama- 
tion of blessings upon the well-doer. 



TOTAL ABSTINENCE. 537 

3. Paul says the one "would do good," the 
other " does evil." The nature of the one, is to 
build up a noble manhood, of the other, to pull 
down and destroy. The effect of all alcoholic 
compounds, is to greatly stimulate the animal 
system. 

4. Commencing with the papilla of the tongue, 
it loses none of its will power in passing the 
mucous membrane of the stomach, duodenum, 
and intestines. It traverses the hepatic, pul- 
monary and systemic circulations, the same fire- 
fiend it began. 

5. Entering the brain with its unspent power, 
it deranges, with undue excitement, all the nerve 
centers. If its nature might suggest a name it 
wxmld be Apolyon. 

6. It is the nature of the ideal ganglia, in which 
originate all our good thoughts, to act dispassion- 
ately. It does nothing by mere impulse, nor is 
it willing to act without calm reflection. Hence, 
stimulation pushes action, and, where continued, 
weakens its guiding power. 

7. On the other hand the sensitive, and pas- 
sionate-ganglia act by impulse. When for a 
long time they are over stimulated, they become 
wild and untamable. Hence, the insanity of 
crime, committed under the influence of intoxi- 
cating liquors. 

8. "Total abstinence" from all intoxicating 
drinks, is used here as the Spiritual meaning of 



538 TOTAL ABSTINENCE. 

the word temperance. We may moderately 
use things necessary, useful and innocent ; but 
we cannot with impunity venture upon things 
hurtful. The body, in a normal state, calls for 
bread, meat, fruit, sleep and recreation ; but it 
has no natural call for tobacco, opium, or alcohol. 

9. Numerous examples exist in Bible history, 
where temperance was made so stringent, as to 
forbid the use of fruits which, fermented, would 
intoxicate. Such were the Kechabites. A sim- 
ilar pledge existed in the Nazarite vow. God 
showed his approval of this vow, even when 
taken by the mother for her child. We instance 
the case of Samson, who possessed supernatural 
strength, while his vow remained unbroken. 

10. God did not enjoin the vow of total absti- 
nence from any useful fruit, or its juice, until it 
became intoxicating. Our Saviour drank the 
unfermented juice of the grape. That he did 
not use it after fermentation, is evident in that 
he kept his Father's commandments, even " not 
to look upon the wine when red," or cleared by 
fermentation. 

11. By boiling the juice of the grape to a thick 
syrup, it can be kept any number of years, in 
any climate, without spoiling. Diluted with 
water, it becomes a good drink. In connection 
with unfermented bread, used at the Passover, 
it would be natural to use unfermented wine, if 



TOTAL ABSTINENCE. 539 

it could be obtained. Such must have been the 
juice of the grape, that Christ made the emblem 
of his blood . 

12. The personal safety of every individual, 
and the preservation of his influence over others, 
call for total abstinence. As a prudential means, 
it commends itself to all lovers of country, or 
who would live in a peacable and prosperous 
community. 

13. Intemperance is as a great leak in a ship, 
with a heavy sea. It is like a large mortgage, 
upon a sterile farm. The yearly cost of intem- 
perance in the United States alone, exceeds our 
own great war debt. This vast sum is worse 
than lost. 

14. Principle should constrain every professed 
disciple of Christ to become an avowed advocate 
of total abstinence. Whatever view he may take*, 
of the possible benefit to himself in using these 
drinks moderately, the law of charity to the 
weak evidently forbids it. And if he could be 
released from this law, he cannot afford, neither 
will he, in the exercise of proper love, allow 
himself to be disfellowshipped by that class of 
active Christians, who cannot look upon his 
course otherwise than unchristian. 

15. Paul's determination concerning meats, 
offered to idols, should be his guide. Catering 
to the passions, customs, and prejudices of 



540 TOTAL ABSTINENCE. 

society, is not Christian charity. To heed these, 
while we ignore the terrible condition of society, 
as it staggers beneath the worm of the still, is 
to deserve to be counted " lovers of pleasure 
more than lovers of God." 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What of man's organism? 
What of the'parts of the body ? 
As an intellectual being ? 
How do they act ? 

2. How did Joshua show the sinful personality ? 
How did he show the effect ? 

How did he set forth the conscientious per- 
sonality ? 

What effect would follow ? 

3. What does Paul say of them ? 
What is the nature of the one ? 
Of the other? 

What is the effect of alcohol ? 

4. What effect upon the mucous surface ? 
What is it in the circulation ? 

5. What does it do to the nerve-centers ? 
What is said of its name ? 

6. What is the nature of the action of the ideal- 
ganglia ? 



TOTAL ABSTINENCE. 541 

What is it not willing to do ? 
What does stimulation do ? 

7. How do the passionate and sensitive act? 
How, when for a long time stimulated ? 
What remark is made ? 

8 . How is total abstinence here used ? 
What may we do ? 

What may we not ? 

What are some of our wants? 

What do we not call for ? 

9. What reference is made to Bible history ? 
What is said of Rechabites ? Jer. 35: 6. 
What was the Nazarite vow ? Judges 13 : 7-14. 
What is said of God's approval of this form of 

pledge ? 

What instance is given ? 

10. What part of this pledge was*not required 
by God? 

What part was ? Prov. 23 : 31. 
What did our Saviour drink ? 
What reason can we give that he never drank 
it in the fermented state ? 

11. How may the juice of the grape be pre- 
served without fermentation ? 

What does analogy suggest from the bread ? 
What connection with the communion ? 

12. What consideration of safety and preserva- 
tion is given ? 

What prudential reason ? 



542 TOTAL ABSTINENCE. 

13. To what is intemperance compared ? 
What again ? 

What of the cost ? 
What remark is made ? 

14. What should principle do ? 
What ought Charity ? 

Wliat is farther said ? 

14. What is said of Paul's determination? 

Of catering to passion ? 

When do we deserve to be counted lovers of 
pleasure more than lovers of God ? 



CONCLUSION. 



Dear Header : — If you have thoughtfully 
read these lessons, you have found much to 
approve. Perhaps some positions taken lack 
clearness. It may bs you are compelled to 
'dissent from some views taken of the blessed 
Saviour. If so, you many feel sen ntive ; and 
in proportion as any part please i, will feel the 
more regret that you cannot agree with all. 
Perhaps a closer perusal will bring you into 
nearer relations with the philosophy of revela- 
tion. Whatever denials are now made of theo- 
logical points, have been made long before ; but 
it may not, therefore follow, that the two posi- 
tions are one. The positive sides, must as well 
be examined. Sabellius made some denials that 
are also made in these lessons ; but he gave us 
no positive theory that will compare with the 
trinity of personalities, defined in this work. 
The testimony of many good ministers of Christ, 
of most of the evangelical denominations of our 
land, might be given, to attest how they fought 
these views with zeal for years, and yet, having 
become convinced from the Bible of their truth, 
substantially, are ready to stand up for a mani- 
festive theology, centering in one God, revealed 
to us mortals, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 



TESTIMONIALS. 



Here is one from Rev. E. D. Lewis, of Wisconsin : 

" I have for many years believed, preached, and enjoyed 
the revelatory view of theology. No other so accords with 
the Bible. To the extern of my ability, consistent with my 
pastoral duties, I shall trv to extend the sale of your book." 

E. D. Lewis. 



" I have examined a number of the foregoing lessons, and 
think them useful for the purpose intended." 

W. B. Priddy, Pastor, 
M. E. Church, Chico, Cal. 



" From a partial perusal of the foregoing work, I am con- 
vinced that it contains a concise and able exposition of the 
doctrines and principles of the Bible. They are admirably 
adapted to aid any pastor to do for his flock what you have 
so ably done for the people of Chico during the last two 
years, viz: To create a growing and lasting interest in the 
study of the word of God." 

A. CoPiilN, Agent, 
California Bible Sooietv for Northern California. 



As one among scores from the " common people, " here 
is one from an unpretending farmer : 

"In company with too many of my fellow men, I have 
spent the most of my days in doubt concerning the inspira- 
tion of the Scriptures. I have read your lessons as published 
in one of our local papers for the last two years. I have 
had but one opinion concerning them, and that is to con- 
stantly like better what I began to think well of. I now 
believe the Bible to be God's inspired book. I only wonder 
that I should have ever doubted." 

M. Barnes. 



This work recommends itself to the student in a peculiar 
manner. The theories are new, and some of them perhaps, 
a little startling, but are generally well supported by argu- 
ment, both from revelation and science. Ifthetruth of these 
theories can be established beyond a doubt, the harmony 
existing between Science and' the Bible can no longer be 
questioned. The searcher after truth will find much to 
admire in the work, and although he may differ from the 
author in many points, he will glean many new ideas that 
will well repay him for his study. 

Samuel T. Black, 
Late Principal Chico Public School. 



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